The End of the Circus: Of Gifts And Semblances
by Pyeknu
Summary: Conceived and initially written by Dr. Tempo. A prequel side story to The End of the Circus, occurring some months before the start of the main story. Doctor Renaissance goes to Remnant to explore the similarities between the local Aura/Semblance abilities and Gifts bestowed on Yizibajohei. Of course, given the war between the locals and the Grimm...!
1. Renaissance in Vale

**DISCLAIMER: Concurrent with fair dealing clauses of the **_**Copyright Act **_**(R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42) of Canada and fair use clauses in copyright legislation in other nations, this is a work that was created solely for entertainment purposes. Furthermore, it is posted freely on the Internet without expectation or requirement of remuneration.**

* * *

_**In geosynchronous orbit over Earth at the meridian of New York City (directly over a point twenty kilometres east of Muriba in the Caquetá Department in Columbia), Monday 22 August 2011, mid-morning...**_

"That was a load of fun."

Hearing that comment from her creator, the beautiful green-eyed gynoid with the dark rust red hair standing in the main office of Station Robert could only smile as she reached over to squeeze Isaac Thomas' shoulder. "You needed it," mused Mimir Shepard — her given name had been taken from a crossover fan fiction story read by her creator some time before his Gifting — as she sat herself at the edge of the desk while giving the blond, blue-eyed native of Queens a knowing look before she crossed her arms. "Ever since your Gifting, you've forced yourself to emotionally grow up well before your time. You needed the chance to be a normal teenager. Dealing with the Wondercolts gave you that chance, Isaac." The replica of the main character of _Mass Effect _in female form winked. "You're even more of a hermit than Tariko can be at times. That's not a healthy thing for any person, Terran or Yizibajohei."

Hearing that, the current incarnation of the Wise Lone Sage, _**Raer'buo Erba**_ ("_**Doctor Renaissance**_"), chuckled as he crossed his arms. Despite her being chronologically a few years old, Mimir had become both surrogate mother and elder sister figure to him. Atop her supervising the work of the androids and gynoids — addressed as a group as "replicants" — who kept Station Robert and Isaac's starships in proper shape, she often liaised with him when it came to dealing with various government officials on Earth and elsewhere. "Okay! Okay! I stand chastised!" he stated as he gave her a surrendering look, waving his hands. "I'll try to be a normal person as much as I can. I'll date around! I'll...!"

_BEEP!_

Both blinked, then Isaac tapped controls on his laptop to bring up whatever message had just been transmitted to Station Robert. A moment later, he blinked as he sat back in his chair. "Interesting..."

"What is it?" Mimir wondered.

"A message from Henry," the New Yorker replied. As Mimir's eyebrow arched on hearing the common nickname applied to the central computer of the most famous starship in the Milky Way Galaxy, he added, "I've asked him to dip into all the Rover sensor logs to find places that I could explore to see if we could expand the pool of non-native Yizibajohei beyond what's been done on Earth so far, not to mention keep a weather eye out for inhabited worlds whose natives are slowly sliding towards their own version of the Dawn of Power." As she nodded, he took a moment to scan through the general precis passed from Sagussa, then he nodded. "Oh, yes...! This looks VERY interesting to me..."

She scanned the screen. "'Remnant'?"

"Odd name, isn't it?" he wondered before he did a deep scan of what was written there. "Class M planet orbiting a white K-type sun close to Delta Orionis; that's about thirteen hundred light-years from here. Originally seeded by the Anquietas from Terran stock five million years ago, inactive Stargate, so no contact yet from Stargate Command. Moon..." He blinked as he leaned back on seeing what had happened to this world's lone satellite. "Ah! Looks like the Ori got involved with this planet. Someone sure got angry at someone..." Shaking his head, he started to scroll down the list. "Currently..."

His voice faded as one glaring detail came up. Mimir was quick to see that. "I think this has potential."

"Very high potential," Isaac affirmed with a nod of his head before a scowl turned his lips as he recalled his past-selves' various encounters with members of the selfish race of would-be "gods" who — in their own way — were no better than the Old Ones that had been banished from both Earth and Yiziba twenty-five millennia ago. "Damned selfish, egotistical nut jobs! Always, always, always NOT bothering to clean up after themselves..." He sat back in his chair, his eyes glittering with anticipation.

For any polymath hyper-genius from the World of the Forge, THIS was one heck of a find!

"Well, this will be quite the interesting research trip," he trilled.

Hearing that, Mimir smirked as she lifted herself off the desk. Despite her constant worrying about her creator getting some chance to be "normal", she knew more than anyone else what drove the Wise Lone Sage...even in this Terran-born incarnation. "I'll get the _Normandy_ ready."

"Please do," Isaac declared...

* * *

_**The End of the Circus: A Tale of the Yizibajohei  
**_**Side Story: **_**Of Gifts And Semblances  
**_by Dr. Tempo and Fred Herriot

_Tsukurimashō!_ (2002), composed and arranged by Itō Masumi, lyrics by Itō Masumi and Nishikiori Hiroshi. _Daybreak_ (1976), composed by Barry Manilow and Adrienne Anderson. _Issho no Tabeyō_ (2002), composed and arranged by Murayama Tatsuya, lyrics by Okazaki Ritsuko.

C&C by Rose Ash.

Based on _The End of the Circus: A Tale of the Yizibajohei_, written by Fred Herriot.

Including characters and situations from _The Seventh Carrier_, written by Peter Albano; _Azumanga Daiō_, created by Azuma Kiyohiko; _Mass Effect_, created by BioWare; _MegaMan_, created by Capcom; _My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic_, created by Hasbro and DHX Media; _Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai_, written by Hirasaka Yomi; _Kantai Collection_, created by Kadokawa Games; _Black Lagoon_, created by Hiroe Rei; _Star Wars_, created by George Lucas; characters created by World Wrestling Entertainment and its predecessor organizations, founded by Jess McMahon and Toots Mondt; _Doctor Who_, created by Sydney Newman, C.E. Webber and Donald Wilson; _RWBY_, created by Monty Oum; _Sweet Valley High_, created by Francine Pascal; _Harry Potter_, created by Joanna K. Rowling; _Ryū ga Gotoku_, created by Sega; _The West Wing_, created by Aaron Sorkin; _Urusei Yatsura_, created by Takahashi Rumiko; _Suzumiya Haruhi no Yūutsu_ and its sequels, written by Tanigawa Nagaru; _Sister Princess_, created by Tenhiro Naoto and Kimino Sakurako; _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_, created by Joss Whedon; and _Stargate SG-1_, created by Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner.

Also including characters and situations from _Urusei Yatsura: The Senior Year_, written by Mike Smith and Fred Herriot.

* * *

**INTRODUCTION**

_As noted above, this is a side story to _The End of the Circus: A Tale of the Yizibajohei_, with the teaser happening fifteen months prior to the start of the main story and the main body of this work beginning almost eight months prior to the start of the main story. In the continuity of the main story, the events depicted below occur in the period prior to the events depicted in the first _Urusei Yatsura _movie, _Only You. _In the continuity of _RWBY_, the main element of the story begins during the events in "Destiny" (third volume__, ninth episode). _**Doctor Renaissance **_(_**Isaac Thomas**_) and interpretations of characters from _RWBY _appearing here are my creation. Interpretations of characters from _Azumanga Daiō_, _Urusei Yatsura _and other series shown here are Fred's as they were depicted in the main story._

_Writer's notes are contained at the end of the text of each chapter._

* * *

_**From the Journal of Isaac Thomas (Doctor Renaissance):  
**__Ever since I arrived on Remnant, I have researched the history of this world as well as analyzed the various things that I had seen.  
__F__rom what I can tell so far, the history of this planet is — past a few centuries ago — lacking in writings as to what exactly happened where and why. This is odd, making trying to learn more about the planet and its people difficult. I have been reading various local fables and fairy tales in hopes of extracting the facts within...but so far, there's nothing really conclusive for me to develop any sort of cultural developmental theory to determine why things came to be the way they are on Remnant today.  
__As for the "why" I'm here, it is due to the abilities the natives of this world possess. They manifest something called "Aura", which — according to what I've learned — draws on the power of the soul to forge barriers against injury. Such barriers can be broken though under the right circumstances. Further, one has to activate the ability to use it and such isn't active 24/7/365.  
__The other paranormal occurrence among the natives is the concept of "Semblance". In effect, it's a special metahuman power unique to each person who awakens their Semblance, though I have heard of cases where members of a family share the same Semblance type. This means that this world could potentially experience a Dawn of Power-style evolution someday, which is what brought me here.  
__Terran/Yizibajohei-like humanoids aren't the only sentient natives to this planet, though. Also resident here are various types of therianthropes who are grouped together under the single "race" name "Faunus". In effect, such beings are humans with animal traits such as tails and ears positioned at the temples. For the most part, Faunus suffer considerable social discrimination. It has evolved to the point where a group called the "White Fang" came into being to help the Faunus try and acquire equal rights. Said group initially employed peaceful means to press for their cause. However, since it's original leader Ghira Belladonna stepped down, the group has begun attacking other people.  
__There is also a substance called "Dust" used here, which comes in several types and seems to grant elemental powers to whatever they are ultimately employed with. It also serves as the main energy source for local technology. From what I've learned, levels of Dust on Remnant will only last a few decades at the most. Thus, one of the many projects I've commenced since coming here is the creation of synthetic Dust plus adopting local technology to different types of energy sources like mesonium.  
__Strangely enough, the employment of Dust has become vital in fighting creatures called "Grimm". Similar to Dementors in places like Her Majesty's Prison Azkaban in the North Sea, Grimm are empathic hunters attracted to negative emotions; they use this to track potential prey among all other types of living creatures on Remnant. Though they most often act like wild beasts, I have noticed recently that some groups of Grimm seem to behave as if something or someone is controlling them.  
__With all this in mind, I have gotten permission from Suzumiya Haruhi to use the dimensional viewer device to see potential future timelines for this world.  
__Hopefully, this will give me an idea as to what is going on here..._

* * *

_**Aboard the Free Planetary State of Yiziba Starship **_**Normandy**_**, in reliquisynchronous orbit at the meridian of the City of Vale, the last Tuesday in March 2012, two hours after supper (Tōkyō time: Wednesday, four hours before dawn)...**_

"Why am I SO not surprised?"

"Would you like me to get the Doctor here so he can explain it to you, Isaac-kun?"

The Wise Lone Sage moaned as he rubbed his forehead. "Ha-ha! Very funny, Haruhi-chan!" Isaac Thomas muttered as he rubbed his forehead. Damn it all, he HATED it when investigations into potential future timelines and alternate dimensions turned up the _**same**_ potential future! "So...this is one fight scene that is totally unavoidable," he muttered, shaking his head.

"Everything seems to be leaning that way," the current incarnation of the Mistress of Time and Space, _**R'buttuo**_ (the "_**Weaver**_"), breathed out as she crossed her arms. "Problem here is that you'd have to go way back into local history to change events around to prevent something like this. Too much crap has happened in too many places to hope to diverge it with one little act of mercy."

"And you wouldn't allow that too far after the scene."

Suzumiya Haruhi chuckled. "You know me so well!"

Shaking his head, Isaac then perked as the door to his private cabin opened to reveal his starship's chief gynoid with a tea service. "How soon can things be compiled about the full-planet sensor scan, Mimir?" he asked as Mimir Shepard placed the tray on the desk, then moved to hand cups over.

"Another day or so," the replica of the player character in _Mass Effect_ promised as she glanced at the laptop in front of her creator. "I take it a rather large fight scene is on the horizon?" she wryly asked.

A tired sigh escaped the Wise Lone Sage. "Sadly so."

"Time frame?"

"A week," he affirmed before sipping his tea. "More than enough time to get ready to help these two..."

His finger landed on the screen, indicating the images of two young women...

* * *

_**Over the city of Vale, aboard the Amity Colosseum, the first Sunday in April 2012, two hours before supper (Tōkyō time: An hour before midnight)...**_

"Impressive show of security, General."

Hearing that comment from the slender twenty-something fellow with the dark blond hair and the bright blue eyes behind protective goggles, the commander of the Atlas military looked over. Thanks to his experience in the field dealing with the Grimm, James Ironwood was quick to analyze this fellow's spiritual Aura potential; he didn't recognize him as an alumni of any of the huntsmen academies he was familiar with. Still, there was an air of barely-contained violence cloaking this fellow in the voluminous hooded cape and the off-white jumpsuit with the gold belt and boots, one the experienced huntsman was quick to sense. "Where are you from, son?" the greying steel-haired warrior wondered as he broke away from his senior staff to stand close to the stranger, his hands resting on his holsters.

He found himself smirking on noting that the newcomer didn't feel cowed to be in his presence. Those eyes projected a mixture of youthful strength and the calm calculation arising from years on the field. No matter who this fellow was, he was a fighter. That, Ironwood could respect.

"From outside Vacuo, General. Isaac Thomas," the younger man said as he offered his gloved hand, which Ironwood took with his own cybernetic limb. Noting that the stranger was willing to shake his mechanical hand showed a willingness to accept the elderly general as a fellow warrior. "You won't recognize me from the roster of the Academy there, sir. I'm self-trained and haven't triggered a Semblance yet. Learned the basics from my parents before they were killed in a sandstorm."

That made Ironwood wince in sympathy. "My condolences, Mister Thomas." He had heard how bad it could be for some people in Vacuo trying to get into Shade Academy. Given the nomadic nature of many of that kingdom's inhabitants, the recruiting pool would be small...and given that the younger fellow hadn't yet woken his Semblance, he wouldn't get into the school anyway. "A pity about not having a Semblance. Your Aura potential is amazingly strong." A chuckle then escaped him as he patted Isaac's shoulder. "Oh, don't worry about it, son! You'll get it sooner or later...!"

Isaac blushed. "Th-thanks..."

Suddenly, the general perked. "Thomas? You wouldn't be a relation to the man who started Renaissance Industries here in Vale? The people developing technologies not powered by Dust?"

The younger man's eyes twinkled. "I know the people who are running the workshop, General. They must have mentioned my name to whoever passed on that tidbit to you..."

"He has no Semblance, General?"

Both turned as a smiling teenage girl with freckles came over to join them, hands politely crossed behind her back. _And thank you, Penny!_ the younger man breathed out; he wasn't ready to reveal what he was ALSO doing on the planet to the public yet. "Unfortunately so, Miss Polendina," he answered, making the gynoid's green eyes widen in surprise. He then nodded up to a nearby video display board, which showed her portrait and name as one of the contestants. "A delight to meet you," he then said as he offered his hand, which she took. After he introduced himself, he added, "I have to confess, you're the most lifelike gynoid I've ever seen. I never knew Atlas' AI technology has progressed that far."

Penny Polendina awked as her cheeks reddened while Ironwood laughed. "You have a sharp eye, Mister Thomas!" the general asserted. "Very few people can sense the truth of someone like Penny!"

That made Penny fluster before she gazed intently at the newcomer. "You do have a very strong Aura potential, Isaac Thomas. It is a pity you have not awoken your Semblance. Were you formally trained?"

"He's from outside Vacuo, Penny," Ironwood explained.

That made her perk before she gave Isaac a sympathetic look. "Oh!" She then thought about it for a moment before smiling. "It is such a pity, still. If you had woken your Semblance, you would be as strong as my friend Ruby; she is a student at the Beacon Academy here in Vale."

"I've seen her and her team a few times since I came to town before the Festival," Isaac noted. "Miss Rose and her friends all have great potential." He then gazed on the general. "You were right to disqualify their team because of what Miss Xiǎo Lóng did, General. Still..." Here, his eyes narrowed. "There's something that struck me as very odd about that whole thing."

Ironwood perked as his eyes narrowed while he recalled what Yáng Xiǎo Lóng had said about what happened not an hour before. "How did you see it, Mister Thomas?" he then asked. He knew that many from Vacuo often developed a special sixth sense when it came to potentially dark situations. Such helped them survive through raids from the Grimm as much as it did when they confronted the many natural disasters that rocked the desert kingdom. "She claims she was attacked..."

"She WAS about to receive the kicking version of a sucker punch, General," Isaac calmly declared, which made Penny brighten. "The match was called in Miss Xiǎo Lóng's favour and she had her back turned to the man. There was no need to continue fighting, yet I clearly saw that Mister Black was ready to press it on against her. I even HEARD him say something like..." Here, his eyes narrowed as he looked out towards the main arena. "...'There's not going to be a next time'. Or something like that." His eyebrow then arched. "By the way, I also noted that his legs are as artificial as your arm, General."

Ironwood blinked before he shook his head. "Only _**one**_ witness..."

"I knew Ruby's sister would never do such a thing!" Penny instantly asserted.

"Perhaps. I'll contact the people from Haven to get his side of the story," the general mused as he patted her shoulder. "Good eyes and ears, son," he then complemented Isaac, reaching over to squeeze the younger man's shoulder again. "We'll talk about this later."

With that, the experienced huntsman headed to the stairs leading to the observation levels overlooking the area. Isaac watched him go, then glanced around to see the many Knight-200 combat androids that had been deployed with the Atlas contingent, weapons at port arms and they now in strategic positions to cover everything within visual range of the "Vacuan". Before he could say anything else, though...

"_**...All right! It's now time to begin the randomization process for our next fight...!**_"

Hearing the voice of Professor Bartholomew Oobleck, Isaac hummed before he glanced at the adopted native of Atlas. "I think your number's about to come up, Miss Polendina," the Wise Lone Sage mused.

Echoing through the air then was the sound of a roulette spinning. "I am ready no matter what will happen, Isaac Thomas," she declared before a curious look crossed her face. "What is a 'gynoid'?"

"It's a forgotten term for a female-form artificial person..."

Oobleck's fellow instructor Professor Peter Port then called out, "_**It looks like our first contender is...**_"

"'Gynoid'?" Penny spoke aloud before she nodded. "I like that term, Isaac Thomas."

"_...__**Penny Polendina from Atlas...!**_"

That made her perk. "I must go now, Isaac Thomas. Will you observe my match?"

He winked at her. "I'll be watching, Penny."

"_**...and her opponent will be...**_"

Both the Terran-turned-Yizibajohei polymath and the Remnantian gynoid tensed.

"_**...Pyrrha Nikos from Beacon!**_"

Penny blinked before nodding, then she marched smartly into the arena. Isaac observed her head off, then he gazed at the palm of his right glove, smiling on seeing the small seed of ruby mesonium that he had used to inject the gynoid's body with softly twinkling. He then looked back to stare intently at the back of Penny's head as his eye triggered a scanning function in his goggles. The native of Queens then nodded on noting the soul transmitter crystal that would suck up Penny's very spiritual essence — her "aura potential" as such would be called on Remnant — was ready to do its work.

With that, Isaac headed to a nearby set of stairs to watch the bout.

_All in the hands of the Doll House now...!_

* * *

_**Twenty minutes later...**_

"Damn...!"

Isaac Thomas had fundamentally known how powerful Pyrrha Nikos could be.

But to see something like THAT...!

"_**No...!**_"

Glancing up to see the horror crossing the faces of Peter Port and Bartholomew Oobleck at the sight of Penny Polendina now in several pieces on the floor of the arena before a white-faced and horrified Pyrrha, the Wise Lone Sage then used his goggles to scan the downed gynoid's head to...

_Yes!_

Already, a metaphysical tunnel had formed, far beyond the ability of anyone in the stadium now to perceive, drawing in Penny's living spirit. Only Isaac could _**see**_ into the seemingly endless tunnel that formed the core of a micro-dimension created by the first being nicknamed the "God Who Walks Among Men" over two millennia before, the gynoid's living essence then being drawn into a side cavern to be infused with a mannequin-like being, one of an ENDLESS number of such creations by the first Infinity to allow the non-Gifted a new chance of life. As the growing chorus of horrified gasps from the crowd increased in volume — while the Vytal Festivals over the years had often resulted in considerable injuries among participants, _**death**_ was a VERY rare occurrence! — he slowly rose, keeping his head bowed low in a show of honest sympathy towards what just happened, then he headed for the stairs to get back to the main floor and a quiet place to teleport back aboard the _Normandy_...

"Penny...!"

Hearing the faint voice of the effective of Team RWBY as he got to the landing close to a service tunnel, the Wise Lone Sage paused, his hands clenching into fists as he fought down the urge to race over, hug the weeping Ruby Rose and tell her that her friend was still ALIVE where it counted the most...and would enjoy a whole new _**life**_ ahead of her. But he couldn't. He just couldn't!

The immediate futures that would branch from this very event were set in stone.

For Remnant to survive, the Beacon Academy had to _**fall**_...

The native of Queens was suddenly shaken out of his introspection by the sound of a door opening close to where Ruby was. A glance over revealed a smirking silver-haired fellow leaning out from a maintenance hatchway, gazing first at the fallen Penny, then at the shuddering Ruby. To her credit, she did tense slightly on hearing Mercury Black approach her...but the sheer shock of seeing what had been a close friend now DEAD not metres ahead of her was just too much...

Isaac's blue eyes widened as Mercury stared directly at him, his victorious grin turning into a scowl. _Damn it! Did someone overhear what I told the general about this jackass?!_ the New Yorker wondered as he sensed the cybernetic mercenary tense, his own grey eyes narrowing as his fists clenched.

"_**Broadcast, what are you doing? Kill the feed!**_"

As silence fell while Oobleck listened to whoever was controlling the audio systems give his more than understandable report concerning losing control of said systems, the Wise Lone Sage then allowed a savage grin — one he had learned to make from many a teacher in a certain Thai port city years before — to cross his face as his left arm raise to allow him to point directly at Mercury. Noting the mercenary tense on seeing that accusatory stance, Isaac keyed a system in his suit that allowed his voice to be projected right into the native's ear without alerting the weeping Ruby as to this particular statement:

"_**Omae wa mō **__**shindeiru...**_"

Isaac had always loved _Fist of the North Star_!

"_**What?! How is that possible?!**_" Oobleck bellowed in the background.

As Mercury's eyes went wide on hearing that strange language, Isaac lowered his arm and turned to walk up the stairs. He paused before moving off, sending the mercenary a parting look of contempt.

"_**You are already DEAD, Mister Black.**_"

The coldness in the Terran-turned-Yizibajohei's voice nearly made Mercury soil himself before he ducked through the door he used when he followed Ruby from the maintenance area of the floating stadium to see the real result of his delaying attack on the leader of Team RWBY. Once he was gone, the Wise Lone Sage spared the crying huntress a final sympathetic glance before moving to find another place so he could beam to the _Normandy_ and prepare for what was coming.

"_**This is **_**not **_**a tragedy...**_"

Hearing the voice of the woman destined to kill the current incarnation of a great warrior that now lived as the headmaster of the Beacon Academy, Isaac tried not to smirk. _Nice theatrics, Miss Fall...!_

"_**This was **_**not **_**an accident...**_"

As the crowd around him began to gasp with both understandable confusion and a growing sense of horror in response to all the overhead projection screens now displaying a two-tone red field embossed by a black insignia similar to a queen piece in Terran chess, the New Yorker made it to another tunnel. Ducking through another maintenance hatch, he tapped a control on his belt.

"_**This is what happens when you hand over your trust, your safety — your CHILDREN! — to men who claim to be our guardians, but are, in reality, nothing more than **_**men**_**...**_"

In a sparkle of energy, the "Vacuan" had disappeared...

* * *

_**Somewhere, sometime...**_

_Where...am I...?_

She remembered being literally ripped apart, all her systems failing.

_How...do I still...function...?_

She remembered the horrified look on her opponent's face.

_Father...did you...save me...?_

Something within her suddenly ached as the image of her first true friend then flashed before her, she on her knees in a corridor leading away from the main stage within the Amity Colosseum, the look of pain and anguish on Ruby Rose's face on seeing her cease to function making her feel as if someone physically stabbed her right in her main power core, a fatal blow to an artificial person like her.

_Ruby...I am so sorry...!_

Then...

Wait...

What...?

_What is happening to me...?_

"Tsukurimashō! Tsukurimashō!"

_Who is that...?_

"Sate, sate, nani ga dekirukana?"

_I...can understand that..._

"Hai! Dekimashita!"

_But...that is no language on Remnant..._

"Ah! Chiyo-chan! She's waking up!"

That caused a pair of very _**organic**_ green eyes to snap wide open!

"Oh, honestly, Ōsaka-san! You're probably scaring her! Don't be so loud!"

_Little Chiyo...Miss Ōsaka...singing about making things...who...eh?!_

A gargled breath suddenly escaped the just-woken Atlesian gynoid as her skin turned very white, making the heads of the two women standing in one of the countless alcoves in the Doll House turn before the older one moaned. "Oh, no! Not _**again**_!" she grumbled before walking over.

The younger of the pair turned white as she immediately sensed what her classmate was about to do.

"_**AH! ŌSAKA-SAN, DON'T...!**_"

A shocked croak then made Mihama Chiyo wince as she saw the fingers of her best friend Kasuga Ayumu probing INSIDE the skull of the just-woken Penny Polendina! "Ōsaka-san...!" the brightest student to grace a high school in Japan for generations then moaned as she slumped.

"Um...salutations!"

Hearing that made Chiyo look up, the surprise on her face quite obvious.

"I have never encountered anyone who can phase their body through solid matter," Penny stated, making Chiyo feel a tonne of relief that the gynoid wasn't going to panic stations over being "examined" in this manner by Ayumu. _Like she ALWAYS did in these situations!_ Chiyo wryly added to herself. "How are you not disrupting the functions of my central processors...?" Penny's voice trailed off before she asked, "Do I have central processors now? This is clearly not my body, so how am I functioning?"

An amused chuckle escaped the woman now trying to probe the adopted Atlesian's head. "It's okay, Penny-chan!" Ayumu declared. "I have to do this EVERY time an android or gynoid comes to the Doll House to become a battle doll to be Gifted finally. No matter which planet you come from, it ALWAYS happens! Every time someone makes an android or gynoid, they ALWAYS put in a _**housekeeping computer**_!" A moan escaped her as she shook her head. "Why...?!"

Penny blinked. "Um...it is to ensure that I can function properly...AH!"

Ayumu's brown-grey eyes brightened before she pulled her hand out of the reborn gynoid's skull. "There we go!" the native of Wakayama called out before she reached over to help Penny slowly sit up. "Now that silly programming is working right for your new body, you can get up."

"Not TOO fast!" Chiyo advised as she came over to join her friend. "Are you alright, Penny-san?"

Gazing at the younger of the pair of strange women, Penny blinked as she took in all the details, a touch of surprise flooding her as she realized that even if she was a battle doll — whatever THAT was — she could still analyze things with the same level of proficiency that she could as a gynoid. A girl having just passed into puberty, possessing expressive brown eyes behind the same type of protective goggles that Isaac Thomas had worn. She also had a very pleasant shade of tenné brown hair styled in two ponytails like teardrops behind her ears. She wore a form-fitting soft gold jumpsuit with bared arms and shoulders, that complete with brown belt and boots with fold-down outer flaps that rose almost to her knees, the belt lined with many pouches, some open and bearing quite small electronic devices of types Penny was unfamiliar with. On her chest above her budding breasts was a sideways "C" in silver, three white lighting bolts emanating from the opening of the letter pointing to her throat and shoulders.

And...

Penny was now blushing. "You are very cute, Miss Chiyo."

As Chiyo flustered at that complement, Ayumu nodded as she crossed her arms, a touch of pride in her voice as she declared, "Yeah, everyone says that about Chiyo-chan! Good thing I turned her into a battle doll when she got Gifted. I mean, if I didn't do that, her brain would have BURNED OUT from...!"

"Ōsaka-san! Slow down! She doesn't understand a thing!" Chiyo snapped.

Penny blinked, then she gazed on the older of the pair. A rather plain face pierced by brown-grey eyes that seemed all-seeing yet also strangely vacant, that framed by brown hair that flowed to shaggy ends around her shoulders. She wore a grey battlesuit with white belt and boots of the same model that Chiyo wore, though her belt only had two pouches poised over the iliac crest of her pelvic bones. On her chest above her more pronounced cleavage — she seemed to be the same age that Penny had been constructed to emulate — was a white symbol looking like a sideways number "8".

A sideways "8"...

"The _**One Above the Gods**_...!"

That made the two Terrans-turned-Yizibajohei blink in confusion...

* * *

_**An hour later, on the streets of Vale...**_

"PLEASE tell me you're kidding me..."

The Wise Lone Sage shook his head.

Damn it! He KNEW he shouldn't have opened his mouth to James Ironwood earlier!

Still...!

"So YOU'RE the one who founded Renaissance Industries, eh?!"

Isaac Thomas blinked as he gazed upon the small group of local therianthropes known as "Faunus" now standing about ten metres ahead of him, all bearing visible insignia marking them as members of the group known as the "White Fang", all armed. "If I am, Mister Haddock?" the New Yorker asked.

He was NOT in the mood for this sort of confrontation scene!

A gargled breath made him focus on the fellow with the buzz-cut black hair and intricate tattoos on his exposed arms, said person now shuddering in disbelief and shock on noting that he had been called out by name. "Did you honestly think I wouldn't know who you are, Gray? May I call you Gray?" Isaac then taunted as he placed his hands on his hips. "So what's the issue. My public relations staff made it clear from the start that Renaissance Industries wouldn't discriminate when it came to hiring and I wouldn't tolerate any discrimination by human staff on Faunus co-workers..."

"_**SHADDUP!**_" Gray Haddock, one of the field lieutenants to Adam Taurus who had been involved in a kidnapping attempt against Weiss Schnee some months ago, roared as he keyed on his weapon.

"_**HEY, GRAY! WAIT...!**_" his second-in-command, Ken Tukson, yelled as the other man charged.

He and the others watched as Isaac crouched, reaching behind the back of his body to snare something. Uncertainty now rocked their hearts as they thought about what the man they were now targeting had just said. They had been directly ordered by their leader — who was now chasing down his old lover Blake Belladonna within the halls of the Beacon Academy — to find the man who set up Renaissance Industries and capture him so he could be interrogated by Cinder Fall to learn what his plans were concerning creating technology not powered by Dust. While they had known the new company had made it a key policy point to make their works as prejudice-free as possible and had even contributed funds to a multi-kingdom charity supporting the Faunus living in Menagerie, the fact that the new start-up WAS pursuing a path that would ultimately give humanity as a whole total freedom from dependency on Dust was something that for some oddball reason set Adam Taurus right off. In fact, Ken's younger sister Tara now worked as a research assistant in Renaissance; it was through her that Adam's group found out about Isaac Thomas' very lofty goals for all of Remnant.

So...if he was really on their side...?

_**PSSSHHEW...!**_

"_**YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH...!**_"

Ken and his friends Scott Mata and Monica Khan looked over on hearing their leader screech...

...then their jaws dropped in stunned disbelief to see Gray now lying face-first on the street near their target's feet, his left arm a cauterized stump above the elbow, the severed limb having dropped off to one side. The cause of his injury: A beautiful ENERGY SWORD in Isaac's right hand, said weapon forging a blade about a metre long, glowing a brilliant evergreen shade, the hilt about a third of the length of its business end, it totally silver with a small control pad and black rubber grips.

As the native of Menagerie howled in agony from being literally "disarmed" like that, the Wise Lone Sage twirled his lightsabre — forged under the tutelage one of several people who ultimately benefited from Hirosaki Ryūji's visit to a galaxy far, far away in another dimension back in the 1930s, Qui-Gon Jinn of Coruscant — around in a playful circle before the point of the weapon tore into the power box of Gray's chainsaw. "Oh, be quiet, you baby!" the New Yorker scolded as he stared in contempt at the fallen warrior. "Now you'll have scars to remind you that not all humans are weak and helpless..."

The sounds of mechanical limbs echoed from nearby.

"Oh, my...just in time," Isaac snidely chuckled as he gazed down an alley...

...as a platoon's worth of Knight-200s approached them, weapons at the hip and aiming at the Wise Lone Sage, their helmets and bodies glowing an ominous crimson shade. Gray looked over...before he shrieked as one bolt of energy ripped into his forehead, killing him on the spot before Isaac's blade deflected the others! "_**HEY!**_" Scott snarled as he drew his own sword and charged.

"_**SCOTT, WAIT!**_" Monica howled as the ovine therianthrope deflected several shots before he got clipped by another android in the left knee. "_**SCOTT!**_" the young niece of the White Fang's current leader shrieked as she lunged over to save him, forcing both Ken and Isaac to move to shield her.

The lightsabre and the broadsword expertly welded by the mustelid therianthrope whose older brother fled the White Fang and hid in Vale a year before — only to be tracked down and killed for his "treason" by Mercury Black and his friend Emerald Sustrai some months ago — flashed to deflect bolts away as Monica dragged the grunting Scott clear of the field of fire. Several Knight-200s were decapitated by well-reflected shots, they collapsing to the ground even as their brothers pressed the attack. Just as Isaac was about to crouch down before charging at the remainder of the rogue machines, a buzzing sound echoed in his ears. "Damn it, Albert! Not now!" the Wise Lone Sage snapped.

"_**I take it I'm interrupting a fight scene, Isaac?!**_" a cackling man's voice echoed over the scene.

"Yeah, you are!" the New Yorker quipped as the remaining section of Knight-200s ceased fire to charge him. "Looks like Mister Black didn't care for my calling him out in front of General Ironwood like that!"

"He didn't!" Ken warned.

"_**Ah! I assume that's young Mister Tukson?!**_" "Doctor" Albert Wily demanded from aboard Isaac's personal spheroid-shaped shuttlecraft which was now in low orbit over Vale.

That made the broadsword warrior awk, which was the cue for Isaac to leap up to rebound off the side wall of the alley above the androids' heads with well-practised grace before he spiralled down, his lightsabre spinning with him to decapitate four of the androids in one sweep. As the other Knight-200s tried to bear on him, Ken grunted before he charged, his sword high in the air. Isaac back-flipped clear, allowing the other man to chop the remaining three machines down with ease. Isaac quickly got back to his feet, lightsabre at the ready as he gazed intently upon the late Phillip Tukson's brother.

The two faced off for a moment...

...then both jolted on hearing someone scream in fright.

"_**Grimm**_...!" Isaac and Ken moaned...

* * *

_**High in the skies over Vale...**_

"Young Miss Rose is on the airship that Mister Torchwick and Miss Politan just commandeered, Albert. She's making a good show," Thomas Light warned as he gazed over his shoulder at his fellow replicant. "The wyvern whose presence was projected to be in the area is now approaching the Academy."

"Good, good," his "rival" noted before tapping a control to reopen the link between himself and his creator. "Isaac, we're detecting a considerable host of Grimm now converging on your position. Do you need some Robot Masters down there to assist yourself and Mister Tukson's friends?"

"_**Negative, Albert! We can handle this down here!**_" Isaac Thomas replied from the surface many kilometres below, the echoing hum of the New Yorker's lightsabre echoing in the background along with a chorus of animal-like growls. "_**Mister Mata's ambulatory now! Turns out that Miss Khan has a healing Aura capability! Pass it on to Miss Tukson that I'll get her boyfriend back to her!**_"

Albert's grey eyes twinkled as he gazed at a blushing Tara Tukson, now seated by the communications station of the highly advanced scout craft as she watched the two "elderly human" scientists continue their work. While having not learned the full truth of her new employer and his senior scientists, the young and impressionable native of the backwoods of Vale was slowly coming to realize that there was a LOT more going on with Renaissance Industries than she first suspected months before when she was hired on as Albert Wily's chief laboratory assistant. Still, she was loyal to the older "man", even going so far as to have something of a crush on him...though Albert was too much a gentleman to respond to her obvious acts of flirting. And he didn't give a damn whatsoever concerning the issue about the accepted view within the Four Kingdoms concerning the "proper" place of people like herself. Even more so, neither Albert nor Thomas hadn't cared a whit about her own brother's membership in one of the more radical wings of the White Fang. "She overheard you, Isaac!"

"_**Tara?!**_" Scott Mata gasped through Isaac's communications link.

"I'm here, Scott!" Tara called back.

"_**You're not being held hostage, are you?!**_"

That made her snarl. "Don't be a rock head, you lump! Professor Wily's been a perfect...eh?!"

Albert and Thomas spun around as a warning beacon echoed from the board in front of Tara, then the latter got out of his chair to head over and see who was now coming into sensor range. After a moment, the eldest male replicant built by the Wise Lone Sage shook his head. "We have a problem, Isaac."

"_**What is it, Thomas?**_"

"_**ISAAC! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU, YOU BASTARD?!**_"

Tara squealed on hearing that booming voice while her "elderly" co-worker moaned. "Miss Black just teleported into Vale, Isaac," Thomas warned in a deadpan voice.

Albert visibly winced. "Oh, dear..."

* * *

_**Back in Vale...**_

_Oh, hell! It's going to be one of THOSE days, is it...?!_

A bone-chilling hiss of mortal fright escaped Monica Khan as she stared in wide-eyed horror upon the cloaked woman in black-and-gunmetal grey who just appeared several metres behind a large troop of Grimm — a mixture of beowolves, nevermores and ursas, Isaac Thomas immediately noted as he readied his lightsabre; there were three dozen in all — who chanced upon the scene of the surviving White Fang warriors sent to capture the Wise Lone Sage confronting the Terran-turned-Yizibajohei hyper-genius polymath. As the grunting Scott Mata and the tensing Ken Tukson gazed in confusion on their friend while her feline ears flattened against her skull and her tail fur bristled, the just-arrived human engine of destruction now living in southeast Georgia on Earth glared intently at her fellow American, the loathing scowl on her face twisting her quite stellar looks quite noticeably.

"Margo..." Isaac moaned. "If you wouldn't mind, this is MY fight scene...!"

"Shut the hell up, you stupid egghead!" Margo Black snarled as she moved to advance on him, acting as if the ghoulish beings blocking her way were mere motes of dust.

Then again, given she was the _**Archangel of Mortality**_ herself, the Grimm WERE motes of dust...

...as one snarling ursa quickly learned.

Without breaking stride, the Vermont-born adopted New Yorker known on Yiziba as _**Litronie Erba**_ ("_**Doctor Death**_") snared the attacking bear-like being by the snout, her tactile necrosis going to work to render the Grimm ashes in the blink of an eye! As Monica shrieked in understandable fear and Ken and Scott boggled in shock at the fact that some human could actually TOUCH a Grimm without being affected...to say anything of DESTROYING the tough creatures with said touch! — noting the reaction from the niece of the White Fang's leader, Isaac remembered that many Faunus gained the various extrasensory abilities of their animal templates when they evolved into such during puberty — the other Grimm howled in terror on realizing a far more DANGEROUS apex predator had come onto the scene.

By then, it was too late for a half-dozen of the creatures. They had stumbled into touching range for the orphaned elder daughter of a Persian Gulf War veteran, one tossed into the New York state adoption system by her father's greedy second wife because Margo was said to be supposedly "too crazy".

The results of which were...predictable.

"What the FUCK is the matter with you, Thomas?!" the personal assassin to two American presidents and the woman who killed the leader of al-Qā'idah the previous spring in Operation: Neptune Spear demanded as she side-kicked a nevermore in the leg before grasping it by a clawed wing to render it ashes. "What's this shit I heard from Suzumiya about you pulling some act of DEATH CHEATING here, huh?! You'd think _**I'd**_ let that happen, buster?! You got another fucking think coming!"

Isaac tried not to groan. Trying to deal with the likes of Elizabeth Wakefield's brown-haired, grey-eyed near-lookalike when she was in THIS sort of mood was like trying to stop either Molly Hecht or Takino Tomo when they were on a rampage in the _**Battlezone**_! _Gee! Thanks you so very much, Margo! Blare everything out when Mercury Black is FILMING this shit for all on Remnant to see...!_

"_**It's jammed, Isaac.**_"

The New Yorker perked before he sighed. "Thank you for thinking of that, Thomas!" he grunted, earning him a curious look from Ken while Scott was trying to calm the wildly quaking Monica down; no doubt, the aura of pure _**death**_ that the just-arrived Vermonter-turned-New Yorker projected from her body 24/7 was totally overwhelming the felinoid therianthrope's fight-or-flight urges.

Of course, the Grimm had gone into panic mode after so many had fallen to this deathly being who seemed WORSE than the dark arch-mage who was the only true friend to the creatures destined to be the enemy of all life on this world. Naturally, several of them move to escape by taking flight...

"Hey! Margo-chan! Calm down, okay?!"

Hearing that airy voice with its Ōsaka-ben accent, Isaac felt the urge to simply break down and cry.

_Did I do something wrong in a previous life to deserve THIS...?!_

Wild shrieks of agony then made everyone look up...

...before they all gaped on seeing the nevermores that had tried to fly clear of Margo instantly EXPLODE into nothingness on hitting a glowing silvery shield that had been cloaked far over their heads. As the ash-like remains of such creatures began to cascade to the ground, a calmly smiling woman in grey-and-white came up to join the second of Yiziba's top triumvirate of reality warpers. "Haruhi-chan TOLD you that it's got to happen THIS way, okay?!" Kasuga Ayumu said as she held up a finger, seeming looming over the other American who had come to Vale this evening. "The only way everyone on Remnant's going to be happy in the end is for Ruby-chan to discover her special Gift...!"

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

Then...

"Um...Margo-chan, are you okay?"

Isaac blinked in confusion on seeing a visibly-calmer Margo now gazing at the palm of her left hand, that now covered in the greyish-black ash-like substance that was all that remained of a Grimm after it was totally destroyed; the remains of one of the nevermores Ayumu effectively wiped out of existence a moment before had showered directly onto the Archangel of Mortality. As the three Faunus warriors visibly relaxed on sensing the far more positive aura projected by the current incarnation of the Goddess Who Walks Among Men, _**Nodim**_ ("_**Infinity**_"), the incensed look that had marred Margo's looks when she teleported to Remnant from Earth visibly melted into bewilderment, touched with a faint echo of recognition. Noting that, the Wise Lone Sage deactivated his lightsabre before walking over, keying his goggles' scanners to analyze the fragments in his fellow American's hand. "What is it, Margo?"

"I've seen this somewhere before," the Vermonter-turned-New Yorker and adopted Georgian said as Ken came over, his own curiosity at this sudden twist of events making him stow his broadsword while Scott helped Monica back to her feet, warmly hugging her in reassurance. "Back on Earth..."

"'Earth'?!" Ken automatically asked.

"Oh, yeah!" Ayumu cheerfully answered before Isaac could cut her off. "You see, Isaac-kun, Margo-chan and I aren't from Remnant! We're from a planet named Earth; it's about thirteen hundred light-years _**that**_ way!" She pointed off to the west at around sea level.

"_**You're all ALIENS?!**_" Tara Tukson screeched from aboard Isaac's scout ship far overhead.

"Oh, relax, Tara-chan! We're not all mean monsters like these stinky Grimm and those dorky Goa'uld, you know!" Ayumu declared as Ken, Scott and Monica gaped in bewildered awe at the three Terrans-turned-Yizibajohei now in their midst. "Isaac-kun's an explorer! He wanted to check out what's the reason you're all putting up to these stinky Grimm in the first place, not to mention wanting to help folks like you live better lives since so many normal humans here are oh so DUMB...!"

"Okay! Okay, Ayumu-chan, they get it!" Isaac scolded, shaking his head.

"I gotta go."

Both Isaac and Ayumu gazed in shock at Margo. "Why, Margo-chan?" the latter asked.

"This is some type of Earth magic I ran into once before," the Archangel of Mortality warned. "I can't recall exactly where I encountered it. Maybe the eggheads at MARPA can give me an answer..."

"Who do you know there?" Isaac immediately asked.

She gazed at him, not surprised that the hyper-genius polymath from the Queens part of New York had friends in the Magical Advanced Projects Research Agency close to where the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was located in western Massachusetts. "Pete Candlewick. Why?"

The New Yorker nodded. "I was actually going to recommend Don Fischer," he noted before a smile crossed his face. "Good head on his shoulders; 'no-maj-born' as they'd say it back home. Tell Peter to contact me when he finds out what that stuff is. If something from back home's the root cause of all the issues with the Grimm here on Remnant, these people need our help more than ever."

"Yeah, yeah." Margo then turned to leave before she paused. "Oh, you three..."

The Faunus warriors then tensed as the reborn master assassin-turned-ultimate dark cosmic meta glared at them with a look that promised an eternity of PAIN if they defied her. "Not a fucking word until Isaac says otherwise, okay? You idiots blab, I kill you ONE CELL at a time! _**Capiche**_?!"

Ken, Scott and Monica all rapidly nodded their heads. "Yes, ma'am...!"

In a flash of energy, the Archangel of Mortality was on her way back to Earth. Isaac blinked before he groaned, his shoulders slumping. "Oh, relax, Isaac-kun!" Ayumu said as she patted his shoulder. "Chiyo-chan will call you about our new friend! Don't worry about our other new friends...!"

Being reminded of what ELSE he had to do this evening, Isaac jolted. "Oh, shit! I forgot...!"

"Relax!" the Goddess Who Walks Among Men assured him. "I took care of it! Seriously, people like you and Chiyo-chan and Elizabeth-chan and Tánja-chan just _**over-complicate**_ things all the time!"

With that, Ayumu teleported away as Ken and his friends all stared in bewilderment at Isaac...

* * *

...while unseen by either the New Yorker or his new local friends, a scarred yet still living Atlesian warrior was gazing on the scene from several buildings away through a pair of field binoculars. After a moment, said devices were lowered away from General James Ironwood's now very wide eyes.

"The _**One Above the Gods**_...!" the leader of Atlas' military croaked out.

He then tensed on hearing familiar shouts from nearby, then he turned to race off.

No matter what the mystery concerning Isaac Thomas was, Ironwood had friends in Vale needing help.

He'd confront that young man about the One Above the Gods when he got a chance...

_**To Be Continued...!**_

* * *

**WRITER'S NOTES**

As noted in the introduction, the main part of this story commences several months before the start of the main story. The basic plot is mine, though Fred has gone through it and added onto it to better ensure no issues with continuity.

The adventures that **Isaac Thomas** (**Doctor Renaissance**) was involved in while he was in California as noted in the teaser in prior to the start of this story will be covered in _Friendship is Yizibajohei_. As noted in _The Deadliest Woman Alive_, Isaac spent time in the pirate city of **Roanapur** (from _Black Lagoon_) immediately after he was Gifted.

Please refer to Fred's writer's notes in _The End of the Circus: A Tale of the Yizibajohei_ to understand the basic galactic situation surrounding Earth in the universe of this story.

_The Senior Year_ character note: **Henry** is the name given to the controlling computer of the **Gatherer**, which first appeared in "Lum's Lesson". The **Rovers** are autonomous probes deployed by the Sagussans to scout various locations within the Milky Way Galaxy which might interest them; they were first shown in "My Darlings United".

The term **Reliquisynchronous** indicates something in the equivalent of geosynchronous orbit over Remnant. That word is based on the Latin verb **relinquō** ("I leave behind").

Translation of the first verses of _Tsukurimashō_, theme song to **Mihama Chiyo** in _Azumanga Daiō_:

_Tsukurimashō! Tsukurimashō!_ (Let's make something! Let's make something!)  
_Sate, sate, nani ga dekirukana?_ (Now then, what can we make?)  
_Hai! Dekimashita!_ (Yes! We did it!)

_RWBY_ minor character notes: **Gray Haddock** is the name of the voice actor who portrayed the White Fang lieutenant who first appeared in "Painting the Town..." (second season, fourth episode). Gray's allies that go after Isaac Thomas near the end of this chapter are Fred's creation, though all based on characters who have appeared in _RWBY_. **Ken Tukson**'s brother **Phillip Tukson** (first name created by Fred) appeared in "Best Day Ever" (second season, first episode); his sister **Tara Tukson** is Fred's own creation. **Scott Mata** is based on the character with the same family name who appeared in "Necessary Sacrifice" (fifth season, fifth episode). **Monica Khan** is based on the current leader of the White Fang, **Sienna Khan**, who was first mentioned in "The Next Step" (fourth season, first episode) and finally appeared in "Dread in the Air" (fifth season, second episode).

**Hirosaki Ryūji** is mentioned in various parts of the main story. A veteran of the **Wars of Liberation** (Fred's title to the magical wars that rocked Earth concurrent to the Second World War), he is also maternal grandfather to **Hirosaki Chikage** of _Sister Princess_ (Fred's favourite dating simulation game series). The concept of the "magical quest" that Ryūji underwent in the 1930s is first looked at in Fred's story _Harry Potter and the Icemaidens_.

The **Magical Advanced Research ****Projects ****Agency** (**MARPA**), the magical research/development arm of the **United States Department of Magic** (known to most _Harry Potter_ fans by the term **Magical Congress of the United States of America** [**MACUSA**]), was first mentioned in Regina Magia's omake _Magic In Miami: The Sunshine Troupe Assembles_. The researchers mentioned by Isaac Thomas and Margo Black here, **Peter Candlewick** and **Donald Fischer**, first appeared in Part 15 of the main story.


	2. Close Encounter of the Yizibajohei Kind

**DISCLAIMER: Concurrent with fair dealing clauses of the **_**Copyright Act **_**(R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42) of Canada and fair use clauses in copyright legislation in other nations, this is a work that was created solely for entertainment purposes. Furthermore, it is posted freely on the Internet without expectation or requirement of remuneration.**

* * *

_**Manhattan, the Woolworth Building/Headquarters of the United States Department of Magic, the first Sunday in April 2012, suppertime (Tōkyō time: Monday morning, an hour before breakfast)...**_

"Hai! Hina's here!"

"Oh, thank Merlin!"

Hearing that from the middle-aged now auror racing towards her, the current incarnation of the Living Spirit of Innocence, _**Lomroer'bem**_ ("_**Suiki**_"), perked before she looked over, then she waved. "Ah! Wilkinson-sensei!" the seven year-old native of Niigata with the sandy brown hair in high twintails and the eyes of pure amethyst that seemed to radiate peace and contentment to all who viewed them called out in Japanese, knowing her suit's universal translation systems would ensure the older woman now approaching her and her companion would hear that statement in English without need of translation spells. "Hina came as soon as Mama woke Hina up after you called! Is everything okay?!"

Stephanie Wilkinson could only laugh as she leaned down to hug the cute child who had inherited one of the greatest cosmic powers that had first risen on the World of the Forge over two millennia before in the unimaginable holocaust known as the "Dawn of Power". "I really wish it was alright, Hinako!" the many-times granddaughter of British North America's third Minister of Magical Affairs — still seen as the third "magical president" of America by some circles in the United States despite all the history lessons taught at places like Ilvermorny to make current generations understand the TRUE relationship between the Department of Magic and normal elements of the government of the United States of America — admitted as she waved Saeru Hinako towards an elevator, the cosmic-powered broadcast empath's companion immediately falling in behind her. "But given what you did a couple weeks ago when you were touring the Solomon Islands, the sooner we got you involved in this, the better."

"There's an American shipgirl, you mean."

That made the native of Philadelphia's magical quarter jolt before she turned to focus her mage sight on the taller and older woman in the white-and-blue jumpsuit that had teleported into the Woolworth Building with the Spirit of Innocence. Once she got a good mystical look at the being who was now known as the Blizzard of Death, _**Roerike**_ ("_**Fubuki**_"), Wilkinson tried not to cringe. It was difficult, of course. Then again, to encounter a person who looked to the normal viewer like a wholesome Japanese teenager with dark brown hair in a stubby ponytail and brown eyes...while possessing the mystical echo of an over 388 foot _**destroyer**_ of all things that massed over two thousand TONS...!

"You're...Miss Fukushima Fujiko, aren't you...?"

"That's _**Commander**_ Fukushima," the adopted native of Maizuru — where she had been built near the start of the Shōwa Era as His Imperial Majesty's Warship _Fubuki_ — coolly interrupted, which made the auror cringe and sent shudders through the bodies of everyone else currently in the Department's central hall overhearing this by the CHILL in her voice. "Of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force Special Service List, Sergeant Wilkinson." A light smile crossed her face as Hinako covered her eyes with her hand, shaking her head at such stupid silliness. "As so ordained by His Majesty..."

"Whoa! Whoa! WHOA!" a new voice with a flat Yankee accent instantly cut in. "_**Jeez**_, Little Snowfall! What's with all the negative waves, huh?! Don't you know by now that Little Sunshine can't take that bad stuff?! Don't be so freaking square, sister! You're WAY cooler than that!"

That cause Fujiko to yelp before she and Hinako both turned around...

...then they gaped on seeing who had just teleported herself up from the Auror bullpen in the basement levels of the Department's main headquarters complex. Taking in the more traditional battlesuit in red and soft gold with pretty flowers on the top and the lower leggings, necklaces with Buddhist prayer beads and pearls slung around the neck of the nicely-curved older teen with the long brown hair held down by a bandana and decked with freshly-cut daffodil flowers and green eyes under protective goggles whose expressiveness reminded Hinako of her most powerful friend, the Spirit of Innocence blinked before she focused on the official Navy ship crest poised over the transformed warship's heart.

"'USS _Long Beach_. Cee-Gee-En-Nine'," the native of Niigata read the gold words on the blue stadium ring before she scratched the top of her head. "Um..."

"'CGN', Hinako-chan," Fujiko supplied. "'Cruiser, guided missile launching...'" — here, she paused as she gazed on the newcomer, a gulp surging up her throat as she added — "'..._**nuclear**_ powered'."

Hinako blinked several times before she moaned. Even if she had just finished the second year of elementary school, she was smart enough and knowledgeable enough to realize what was going on and what made the Department of Magical Law Enforcement here in America scream for her to visit in the middle of her enjoying spring break. "Sensei, where are the baka-bakas that did this to Fujiko-chan's and Hina's new friend?!" she then politely asked, waving at the reborn first nuclear-powered surface warship as she gazed at Wilkinson. "Hina's got to go _**yell**_ at them now!"

The auror chuckled. "Right this way, Hinako..."

* * *

_**Minutes later, in the third sub-basement...**_

"Baka...!"

Hearing that exasperated sigh from the young no-maj girl native to Japan who had somehow been "gifted" to inherit the power of one of the most feared race in the known UNIVERSE, the half-dozen very dishevelled men in the dated clothing — seeing that, Fukushima Fujiko put the style as common to the Roaring Twenties around the time she had been built — all winced as Saeru Hinako lowered the unrolled two-foot parchment that contained a list of over FIFTY confirmed violations of Article IV of the Magical Constitution of the United States of America; that was the part of the document first written in 1787 that affirmed that all natives of the then-newborn republic blessed with magic would adhere to the demands of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy. And even if Hinako herself didn't really have to worry about such things — as a bona fide metahuman from Japan, she was subject to the rulings of the Tokubeppō, which gave people like her much greater freedom of action than her magic-only countrymen — she knew that something like THIS would have really ruined a LOT of people's days.

Such as her current host and her co-workers.

"Dear gods! You people DO take STUPID PILLS in the morning, don't you?!"

The imprisoned wizards — four members of the Magical Congress of the United States from more conservative districts in the former Thirteen Colonies, plus two retired members of the DMLE known to have strong mugalophobic sympathies — all awked on hearing that scolding from Fujiko's most visibly different sister, Fukushima Mayako, the former THG _Murakumo_. Before the leader of the group, some fellow whose name the visitors from Japan hadn't got — once Hinako and Fujiko had been invited to the DMLE offices at the Woolworth Building, all six of the latter's sisters who had been "salvaged" by the Spirit of Innocence and the power of the Seeker's Forge over the last couple of weeks had teleported in to make sure their young "admiral" was properly protected — could scream at the silver-haired teenager with the caramel brown eyes for "speaking above her station", a voice then called out, "Hey! Square! Shut the cake hole! The cool folk here don't wanna hear your verbal diarrhea!"

The prisoners gargled as they felt a very sharp wave of heat wash over them, making the Fukushima sisters gape in surprise at the transformed USS _Long Beach_, who had been given the lengthy name "Ellen Naomi Michelle Haight-Ashbury" by the Conservator on her Gifting late Friday evening at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility. Said adopted native of Quincy in Massachusetts and her namesake city in California was now seated on one side of a kotatsu that had been teleported from the Saeru home in Niigata by Fukushima Hatsue, the former THG _Hatsuyuki_; the two shipgirls were enjoying some lemon tea some smiling house elves had made for the "All-Seeing One" — as they called Naomi for some odd reason — and her new friends from the Land of the Wa. "Why in the name of the gods didn't you just kill them and get it over with, Naomi-san?" Mayako asked as she thumbed the prisoners, making them awk at such a suggestion from the adopted native of Ōsaka who seemed the most tsundere of the Fukushima sisters. "I'm sure Wilkinson-junsabuchō and her friends would have liked NOT having to deal with the _**paperwork**_ this mess caused!"

As the aurors listening to this morbidly chuckled at that suggestion, Naomi's eyes twinkled. "Yeah, I could'a turned them into guacamole if I wanted to, Surfer Gal," the transformed missile cruiser noted as she gave the prisoners a gimlet eye. As Mayako flustered on hearing that weird nickname applied to her, the American shipgirl who served in the era of the Summer of Love added, "But since they were too square to realize the Great Spirit of Yiziba wasn't going to let me be made to follow the system like they wanted, it would'a been a waste of good ammunition." As the prisoners wilted on sensing that Naomi considered them too BELOW their notice — an attitude NONE of them were used to encountering from a "no-maj", metahuman or not — she sipped her tea. "'Sides, Papa J's gonna make them see reality about cool cats like us soon once Doc Quahog gives him the lowdown over what happened."

"You mean a _**Magical Executive Order**_, don'tcha?" Fukushima Miyuki, the reborn Fubuki-class who didn't have to worry about getting used to a new name to call herself, grunted as she crossed her arms.

"Of course! They should be worried about LOSING their magic...!"

As the prisoners awked on hearing THAT — even the aurors were visibly wincing from that pronouncement — eyes locked on Hatsue, who had a churlish smile on her face. "What does that mean, Hatsue-chan?" her older sister Shirayuki — who, like the former THG _Miyuki_, didn't have to worry about getting used to a new name when she became a shipgirl — wondered as she looked over.

"Magical Executive Order 9002, I think it's called," the teenage girl with the long hime-cut raven hair and the caramel-shaded eyes coolly answered. "Once someone is identified as a metahuman by the Chief Executive — the President, in other words — or those he delegates, any magical interference in their lives unless cleared by the Chief Executive is seen as an act of TREASON!" She tsked before turning back to her tea while the prisoners all seemed to collapse on themselves; the Department of Magic still made use of the death penalty in some cases, especially for THAT. "Well, no great loss..."

"_**PEEW! WHAT'S THAT HINA'S SMELLING?!**_"

Eyes locked on Hinako, who was now plugging her nose as she looked around the room, her eyes wide and watering. The others blinked before the transformed Japanese destroyers began to sniff the air. "Ah! Over there!" Fukushima Urako called out, pointing towards one door.

By then, the aurors were picking up on the faint putrid odour drifting in from a special examination room the DMLE's local office often shared with members of America's equivalent to the Department of Mysteries in Britain. "What in Merlin's name..." Stephanie Wilkinson garbled before she walked over, knocking on the door as she drew her want to cast an air freshening charm. "Peter?! Are you there?!"

The door opened, allowing a wave of that stench to explode out and nearly make everyone gag. "Whoa! That's gross, dude!" Naomi snapped as she waved her hand, sending out a pulse of power to clear the air and have it contained inside the examination room. "What type of weed are you smoking, man?!"

Hearing that question from the personification of America's first nuclear surface ship made human, the middle-aged man in the more modern clothing — complete with scientist's white smock — chuckled in embarrassment. "Sorry about that, Mama Cass!" Peter Candlewick apologized before drawing out his own wand to better contain the stench before he adjusted his glasses. "Damn...!"

"What on Earth are you examining now, Peter?!" Wilkinson demanded.

The arithmancer and technomancer who was one of the rising stars in the Magical Advanced Research Projects Agency's central team scratched the back of his head. "Something _**magical**_ from another PLANET that Miss Black just brought to us, Stephanie!" the native of one of the magical quarters of Boston answered, the excitement in his voice quite apparent to the others listening to this. "I thought I'd NEVER get the chance to look at something ALIEN unless I was seconded to Stargate Command!"

People blinked. "Margo-san?" Hinako wondered...

* * *

_**In reliquisynchronous orbit at the meridian of the city of Vale, two hours later (local time: Two hours before midnight)...**_

A moan escaped the man lying on the very comfortable reclining chair in the clean yet not hospital-like sterile room with the large window displaying the night side of Remnant, glows emanating from fires that swept through Vale City in the wake of the destruction of the Beacon Academy two hours before shining like hellish beacons in the background. A pair of dark brown eyes that shone with the wisdom of CENTURIES of life then slowly opened as his head tilted to and fro. As his vision cleared up and his mind began to fully awaken from being knocked out after being caught in the midst of the unleashing of the Silver Eyes, he noted the reflection of the well-formed face of Shannon Ozpin on the picture window dead ahead of him at about two yards' range, said features framed by the shaggy silver hair he was blessed with shortly after the immortal soul of the Undying Warrior Sage of Remnant fused into the young Vale native's mind when he was a teenager. Blinking as he considered that — by all rights, he should be dead and proceeding through reincarnation as he had been cursed to do over many times over the last two thousand years — he glanced over to see his glasses on the desk beside his bed. Picking them up — he was ultimately nearsighted, so everything beyond that window was a curious dark blur to him at this time — he slipped them over his eyes to look...

"Oh, ye FATES...!"

"That's correct, Professor. It's all true."

Hearing that voice, Ozpin's head snapped around...

...before he relaxed. "Mister Thomas," he breathed out before turning back to see his homeworld glowing in the evening, Remnant's shattered moon off to the right above the plane of the planet's equator and its home sun's light glowing from beyond the left of the window. "I'm in _**space**_...?"

"You are," the Wise Lone Sage of Yiziba answered. "I wasn't kidding when I told you and your co-workers that I'd do a lot to bring a considerable improvement to life on Remnant. Including..."

Ozpin blinked before he chuckled. "Letting us fly into space."

"Of course. On my home planet, questing into space is actually seen as exploring the true final frontier," Isaac Thomas answered, his blue eyes twinkling. "And we've done it in several interesting ways. One of which — once we take care of your old lover, of course — could have you make first contact with distant cousins of Remnantians all over the known galaxy." He gave the now-former headmaster of the Beacon Academy a knowing look. "The Chappa'ai?"

A grimace crossed Ozpin's face. "What of the lar'beke?" he coolly demanded, spitting out that word as a flash of sheer disgust echoed in his eyes. "The 'Goa'uld' as they call themselves?"

"Oh, they're still quite the nuisance, but people from the Tau'ri homeworld — 'Earth' as it's called — are working to tame them," the younger man assured him. "It's also attracted the attention of people from Yiziba." Here, he gave the older man a knowing look. "We never met in our first lives. When you were busy with Ayono Ugadese being saved from the Two Brothers who wanted to kill off the descendants of people they transported to Remnant from Earth, my first-self was busy trying to save lives back in my homeland on Yiziba. I'm not sure what Master Ayono told you about our 'dawn of power'..."

"It was so catastrophic, it completely destroyed every nation on your planet and led to your people being engaged in some odd 'reality show' when they weren't just trying to survive and live their own lives," Ozpin finished as a wry chuckle escaped him, feeling an inner sense of relief that Isaac hadn't turned out to be something more dangerous than that, such as a hidden Goa'uld system lord who wanted to get a foothold on Remnant; prior attempts by the "children of the gods" when it came to invading the planet saw them and their slaves become food for the Grimm. "I simply couldn't imagine what it was like for Ayono and his friends in that time on that planet. I suspect what just happened within Vale City would just be a petty microcosm of what rocked Yiziba in those days."

"It was."

Silence fell as the two beings, both young yet mystically over two millennia old each, gazed once more on Remnant. Ozpin focused on Vale City for a moment before he asked, "How bad?"

"Casualties were quite heavy. Estimates of total deaths are over a thousand. The Academy is a total write-off thanks to what Miss Rose did to that wyvern that made its way to the CCT tower on the grounds. Right now, everything within two miles is being blocked off by whatever local forces are available to keep the Grimm from overrunning the rest of the city." Here, Isaac sighed. "Sadly, due to the nature of what happened and what the reaction might be from who we both know instigated this in the end, I couldn't help any more than what General Ironwood did before Mister Black decided to play with his troopers' programming to turn them against the huntsmen in town. Now that Miss Salem will be distracted by the revelation of Miss Rose's special gift — not to mention Miss Fall going forth to claim the power of the other Maidens — I can be a lot more overt."

"You're precognitive?"

"No, just your average hyper-genius polymath." Much to the headmaster's private approval, the native of Queens looked quite sheepish as he added, "Everything you see around you was built by me using nanotechnology powered by mesonium — the 'atom of true life' as I'm sure Master Ayono called it; the Goa'uld call it 'ra-naquadah' — over the last few years since my Gifting. I do have friends who are able to allow me to see future timelines. Given what the people of Vale must now be thinking, revealing I'm an alien would drive up xenophobia to a level that will literally help Miss Salem win the war."

"Especially with your applaudable stance concerning the Faunus under your employ," Ozpin finished as he sat back on the bed, crossing his arms. "Given what you've introduced so far, you have won friends over, but the fear of the radical factions in the White Fang is deeply entrenched."

"True, especially given Mister Taurus' actions earlier this evening when he decided to renew 'acquaintances' with Miss Belladonna, not to mention what he did to Miss Xiǎo Lóng." At his guest's questioning look, the Wise Lone Sage added, "They're alive, though Miss Xiǎo Lóng lost her right arm above the elbow when she charged Mister Taurus head-on without thinking. Miss Xiǎo Lóng's father is now arranging to get a prosthetic for her. Miss Rose is with her family as well."

Ozpin slowly nodded. "Were you able to save Miss Nikos?"

"She's with two friends of mine right now in a pocket dimension that Master Ayono made sometime after he met you," Isaac assured him. "One of them being Master Ayono's current-self. Miss Polendina is with them as well." At the professor's surprised look, the native of Queens smirked. "I have a _thing_ concerning sentient AIs being given the chance to enjoy true life."

A chuckle answered him. "I see..."

* * *

_**Somewhere east of Vale, that moment...**_

"He should have _**listened**_ to me..."

A pair of eyes — the left a rosy pink, the right earthen brown — fluttered as a surprised gasp escaped the diminutive woman in the form-fitting clothing whose colouring reminded the current incarnation of a far-right preacher from the northern polar continent of Yiziba two millennia before of a very tasty type of frozen treat he often enjoyed on previous visits to Earth. As the now-dizzy native of one of the slums scattered all over Vale shook her head to clear the cobwebs from her flight of several dozen miles from the surface of an Atlesian airship not hours before, her current companion could only chuckle. It had been the luck of the fight scene that allowed Leno Lu'umlo to telekinetically save Roman Torchwick's chief assistant from snapping her neck falling at terminal velocity from a mile up in the sky.

As a raspy moan escaped Neo Politan's lips, the man known on Yiziba as the Mad Prophet of the Future, _**Rimmim**_ ("_**Millennium**_"), glanced at her before he turned to gaze once more at the starry night overhead. He could pick out the bright light of Kaeyu from this world, a planet that REEKED from the stench left behind by the arrogant "evolved" death-cheaters calling themselves "Ori" as a group. While he had doubts concerning finding people who could act as a proper counter-balance to whomever Isaac Thomas would soon see Gifted, Leno had to admit that young Neo had a metric tonne of potential. She was athletic to a degree that would make any incarnation of the Deadliest Woman Alive or the Mighty Maid of the Mountains green with envy, skilled with her remarkable "semblance" variation of a Gift as well as using her umbrella/cane sword in battle, emotionally apathetic towards everything and everyone save those who helped this poor mute girl during her life such as her late boss, wasn't afraid to mix it up when necessary and would kill without hesitation. Then again, given the presence of those wastes of energy called "Grimm", learning how to kill was a necessity on Remnant.

Leno's eyebrow twitched as his hearing picked up the snarl of several creeps from a nearby line of trees; he had picked this place near a deserted village that had been abandoned for a series thanks to the Grimm as a perfect locate where he could pitch his sales talk to Neo about making her something special. While the Mad Prophet was truthfully saddened at the loss of such a practical fellow like Roman, the fool made his choice to throw his lot in with the death cheater who ruled in the so-called "Lands of Darkness", not willing to explore more interesting possibilities.

Sipping the fine local tea he obtained before things went crazy from a vendor in Vale City, Leno then glanced over his shoulder to see three of the arm-less beasts staring balefully at him from the treeline. He then perked as a shocked intake of breath echoed in his ear, indicating Neo was up and aware they were in danger. Taking a sip of the tea, the reborn preacher breathed out. "Calm yourself, Miss Politan. You've dealt with these things before," he advised as an inviting look crossed his face. "There's not a single bruise on your body and both your aura and semblance are at full strength." As she glared at him, he shook his head. "If only your friend had listened to me..."

That statement had been deliberate on the Mad Prophet's part.

The effect was instantaneous!

Neo's eyes went wide with horror as her pale skin turned a sickly white. Her mind flashed back to late the previous day, when she and Roman had first met this fellow in one of the seedier bars in Vale concerning the situation stemming from the long feud between the Immortal Queen of Darkness and the Undying Warrior Sage. How Roman hadn't bent an iota despite all Leno did to make the man see that siding with Cinder Fall and her group was not the ONLY option available in these trying times for all Remnantians, enticing him with the potential to become SO powerful that he wouldn't have to worry about either the current incarnation of Ozma OR his old lover. Despite that, Neo herself had been tempted. Just touching that jewel of "mesonium" that the Mad Prophet showed her made her hair stand on end on sensing the sheer POWER within...and that had come from Leno forcing an iota of his near-cosmic abilities to make the mute fighter truly FEEL what she could be!

Now Roman...

Roman...

No...!

No!

_**NO!**_

A raspy yet guttural scream escaped Neo as she bolted to her feet, snaring her umbrella and snapping it open before charging the approaching Grimm. Leno remained still as the snarling beasts yelped in unwelcome surprise as the strange human with the multi-colour hair lashed out at them...before those angry yips turned into screams of agony as Neo's cane sword sliced open their bodies at the neck, decapitating them in an instant. That act saw more of the dark creatures who trailed the creeps to this clearing lunge out from the shadows, most of them moving to overcome Neo while several lunged towards the middle-aged man with the dark hair and the brown eyes behind safety goggles, he in his red sleeved jumpsuit with the purple belt and slip-on shoes covering his feet. As two ursas were hacked apart by the rampaging Neo, she quickly spotted two more of the bear-like beings charge the man who just saved her life, a silent scream of warning escaping her...

...before her heterochromic eyes went wide with disbelief as two ghostly wolf-like beings with glowing silver eyes surged out from the ground to snare the ursas by the neck and chomp down hard, making the Grimm shriek in mortal pain as the cleansing touch of the Atom of True Life burned clean through their bodies, rendering them ashes in an instant. The other dark creatures who had been bent on killing Neo immediately reared in outrage on sensing these strange animals in their normal hunting ground, then they charged, leaving the mute Valean behind as they moved to eradicate these deadly beings.

Leno watched as the soul wolves slashed and bit at the charging Grimm, ripping them apart in less time than it would take for the reborn preacher to sip his tea. Now safe thanks to the fact that the Mad Prophet brought in two of Yiziba's legendary spirit hunters to clean up this one small tract of Remnant, all Neo could do was just stand there slack-jawed in amazement as the ghostly beings did their work. In a minute, it was over; as the last creepy was disembowelled by one wolf, his brother trotted over to approach Neo, its nose flaring as it took in the mute warrior's "scent". Remembering past encounters with dogs, Neo remained still as the soul wolf completed its inspection of her before it moved to nudge her towards Leno, surprising the mute Valean with the gentleness of its touch.

"He likes you," the reborn preacher explained, making Neo stare at him. "Unlike some people where I come from, your practicality and willingness to fight for your life is something they automatically respect. And you're not tainted by the death cheater, not like your 'allies' are. They approve."

Neo blinked, then she walked over to sit beside him, a sullen look crossing her face for a moment as tears brimmed in her eyes and a lump surging up in her throat. "It's alright to mourn, my friend," Leno calmly stated as he drew out another canteen of tea for her to sip from. "Your late companion had quite a practical outlook on life himself. Wherever he is now, he understands now he chose poorly." He gave her a knowing look. "You don't have to make the same mistake, Neo."

She gazed at him, then sighed as she opened the canteen to sip from it. After a moment, she drew out one of those PAA-like devices used here called a "scroll", tapping on in. Seeing the picture displayed there with the text message **GUESS WHO?**, Leno shook his head. "Why are you angry at her?"

That earned him an outraged look from Neo, such not phasing him as the soul wolves moved to lay on the ground nearby even if their ears were perked to sense trouble. "Neo, be reasonable," the Mad Prophet warned. "He knew the danger, yet after you were blown off that airship, he was more concerned about taunting Ruby than keeping an eye on the battle space. I'm sure if he understood what was happening and chose survival over trying to press his vendetta, he'd be here where you could admonish him properly." He shook his head. "Regretfully, he's not. You've seen it before, haven't you?"

Her hand tightened on her cane sword for a moment before she blinked as the ugly truth behind her saviour's words sank in hard. Oh, yes, there had been DOZENS of times when Roman allowed his arrogance and his desire to win at all costs get the better of him, many of those incidents having happened thanks to Ruby Rose and her friends in Team RWBY. While the joy of fighting against opponents had driven Neo Politan to excel as she did on the battlefield — especially if such opponents stood against the man who had done so much for her in the last decade or so — she knew that all it took was one bad slip and you were seeing daisies from the OTHER side...!

Her thumb tapped the scroll, allowing another picture to appear on the holographic screen. Leno took note, then he snorted. "Oh, yes. The _**gift thief**_!" he scornfully declared, making Neo perk in confusion. "While you and Roman were busy entertaining young Ruby on that airship, Miss Fall charged in to seize the power of one of the 'maidens' that are so revered here. She killed the Fall Maiden while she was in a life support pod, then she killed the poor woman who should have received that Gift if Master Ozpin had been more swift about it!" He glanced into space where he knew a certain starship was now orbiting, it currently hosting the Undying Sage Warrior of Remnant. Sensing Neo wince in sympathy on hearing that someone had been struck down in her SICK BED — despite her apathy to a lot of things, the Valean mercenary had _**some**_ ethical standards, things that would earn her many kudos on Yiziba even from the more hard-core heels — he smirked. "Miss Fall paid for her arrogance thanks to young Ruby and her 'silver eyes' Gift. Lost an arm and an eye." His eyebrow cocked as he gazed intently at her. "Care to eliminate the _**rest**_ of her, Neo? To say anything of young Yáng's mother? The one you encountered when you were about to strike her down some storylines ago?"

Neo's eyes went wide before a message flashed across her scroll; the device was specially modified to help the mercenary relay her thoughts without getting sore thumbs: **THE BITCH'S **_**MOTHER**_**?!**

"Indeed. She's the actual Spring Maiden, in fact."

That made her blink before a wry smirk crossed her face. **GIFT THIEF?** she then messaged. Much that she didn't fully understand the origin of that particular term, it was easy to figure out its true meaning.

"She murdered her because she saw the woman as 'too weak'." Here, Leno snorted. "Then again, what would you expect of someone from her group? You've heard of the Branwen Tribe, haven't you?"

**BANDITS FROM ANIMA**, she affirmed before a questioning look crossed her face, then she sipped her tea before a smirk turned her lips. **WONDER IF THE BLONDE FOOL KNOWS.**

"She doesn't know her mother leads that group, much less possessing the blood of that lass on her hands. All Yáng feels concerning that woman is nothing more than _**abandonment**_."

Neo smirked. **CAN'T BLAME HER.** She sipped her tea, then gazed at the dozing soul wolves whose presence were effectively protecting her and her new friend from the one threat on Remnant that ALL had to be wary about regardless of their chosen trade in life. **SO WHY ME?** she signed. **WHY ARE YOU INTERESTED IN HELPING ME? YOU SAID YOU WERE A PREACHER OF SOME SORT. WHY WOULD A PREACHER BE INTERESTED IN A THIEF AND MERC LIKE ME?**

"Balance, my dear Neo," the Mad Prophet explained. "Look up."

She blinked, then looked up towards the night sky...

...before her jaw dropped on seeing the image of the Remnant-sized planet now floating in the sky overhead; Leno created this effect using his psychokinesis to open a small warp gateway in the high atmosphere to cover the thousands of light years separating Remnant from Yiziba. "That is my home planet of Yiziba, Neo," the reborn preacher explained. "A world that is quite similar to your own Remnant in many ways...but with _**one**_ clear difference. We Yizibajohei don't _**bow**_ to beings who think they're our betters for whatever reason strike their fancy." He then leaned up to gaze directly into her eyes. "We KILL those who would force us to bow to them. Even beings like Salem, much less Cinder. But I know that as you are now, you won't stand a chance against them. You need help."

She blinked several times as her eyes picked out the many cities and villages overhead — she was looking now at the inhabited part of the northern polar continent near the location of the indigenous headquarters used by the three hyper-geniuses who saved Yiziba two sagas ago; that particular city was now known today simply as "Habitation One" — before she raised her scroll.

**NICE PLANET. TELL ME MORE.**

Leno smirked...

* * *

_**Aboard the Free Planetary State of Yiziba Starship **_**Normandy**_**, an hour later..**_

"So you're all artificial persons?! Like Miss Polendina?!"

"Indeed we are, Mister Mata," Albert Wily declared after he rolled down his arm; he had shown the people from Remnant now aboard the _Normandy_ the complex mechanisms that made him what he is. "Although on Earth, the terms normally used to refer to sentient artificial intelligences shaped in human forms are 'androids' for male-forms and 'gynoids' for female-forms." The replica of the chief antagonist in the _MegaMan_ video game and anime series then cackled. "You people are rather lucky in that regard. While I know alternate gender preferences are quite common on Remnant, there are scant few transgender people — human or Faunus — now alive on the planet. It might change."

"Nowhere close to Hustaros, of course," his "rival" Thomas Light then advised before sipping his tea.

"What's that, Doctor?" Tara Tukson wondered. She, her brother and his fellow White Fang members who had intended to capture Isaac Thomas earlier this evening were now relaxing in one of _Normandy_'s several guest lounges, the beautiful arc of their world visible beyond an airtight clear metal portal.

"It's a planet about five hundred light-years from Earth, Miss Tukson," Thomas explained as he tapped a control on the table separating him and his rival from the local therianthropic natives who had come aboard hours earlier. Immediately, a holographic projection of the local stellar cluster appeared, prominent planets marked out. With that, the silver-haired android scientist pointed to one remote star quite a distance from the icon flashing **SOL(EARTH/TRITON)**, to say anything of the icons marked **OUM(REMNANT)** or **KAEYU(YIZIBA)**. "Inhabited by Faunus-like natives who share the same general physical features — a mixture of felinoid traits like what Miss Khan possesses with equine traits such as my assistant Mister Tanner — but have evolved into FIVE separate yet distinct genders."

"Whoa!" Scott Mata breathed out. "They have _**hermaphrodites**_ on that planet?"

"Yes, they have," Albert answered before nodding as one of the gynoids assigned to the _Normandy_, Robyn "Roll" Ross, came with a tray of tea and snacks from the nearby food replicator. "The other two genders are known as 'mems' and 'fems'. Mems are normally called 'she-males' on Earth while fems are quite pronounced tomboys." As the visitors from Remnant nodded — atop nodding to Robyn in thanks for bringing food — he added, "I doubt you'll encounter them when you finally get into space. They're a rather private race altogether, though not violently xenophobic by any stretch of the imagination."

"So what made Isaac move to build you all?" Monica Khan wondered.

"He's an otaku," Robyn answered. "In other words, he's a passionate fan of many forms of entertainment that have appeared on Earth over the last several decades. Movies and television (both live action and animated), video games, role playing games, novels (both written and graphic) and the like. We're all based on one particular series." She indicated herself, then her fellow _MegaMan_ character replicas. "You can access information about that in the ship's computers."

"That's more than appreciated," Ken Tukson noted as he clasped his clawed hands in his lap. "But how in the name of Oum can we really trust you people? Sure, you all don't care if we're Faunus or not; that's something that's got people talking from Vale to Menagerie and everywhere in between. And if you're bringing your tech to Remnant that doesn't need Dust, all the better. But what the hell made Isaac come HERE in the first place? I'm glad his friend with that death touch Aura of hers connected something between Remnant and Earth." Ken and his friends all knew about Isaac actually hailing from the latter planet, seeing Yiziba as his adopted home world; they had been briefed on that by Thomas and Albert shortly after they had come aboard the _Normandy_. "But what's the game plan here?"

"Ultimately, it's because Isaac can get _**bored**_ easily, Ken," Thomas noted, making Albert and Robyn laugh as the visitors from Remnant all boggled at that statement. "To really understand, you need to understand how Yiziba came to factor into everything. Fortunately, you do have a fellow countryman who once met a Yizibajohei about two thousand years ago who's still alive today."

"Professor Ozpin, you mean," Scott noted. "We've learned he's actually the Undying Warrior Sage."

"I assume you received that information ultimately from Salem, Mister Mata."

Everyone turned to look, then they relaxed as Shannon Ozpin came in right before their host moved to join them. Seeing the headmaster of the Beacon Academy well and healthy — Scott and his friends all got the briefing of what went down in the academy hours earlier when Cinder Fall moved to seize the power of the Fall Maiden — made the four Faunus nod in appreciation. No matter their more than understandable questions concerning the Wise Lone Sage's current quest on Remnant, they knew that Ozpin had always maintained an open arms policy concerning those who wished to come to Beacon to learn to be huntsmen; race didn't matter given the presence of several well-known people like Blake Belladonna and Velvet Scarlatina among the active local teams. And while they had been made to side against Ozpin by their leader Adam Taurus, they were open-minded enough to understand that the situation involving all the major players on Remnant was quite complex.

Having ALIENS come into the situation...!

"You actually met a Yizibajohei, Professor?" Monica asked as both Ozpin and Isaac took their own seats with Robyn heading over to offer them snacks and tea.

"I had that honour, Miss Khan. This was when I was in my 'pretend to be a god' days two millennia ago, around the time Salem and I broke up," the silver-haired reborn warrior noted. As the former members of the White Fang and one's sister nodded in understanding, he added, "Around that time, the Two Brothers came back to Remnant to enforce their own control over the people then living on the planet, human and Faunus alike. You wouldn't know this as Salem and I both moved to remove any references to their return from history books. During that time, Salem and I discovered that the Two Brothers were NOT gods, but advanced humanoid aliens who evolved into such a state of being that they literally didn't require physical bodies anymore. Because of their advanced evolution, neither Salem nor I could resist them even if the 'god' of Light was nominally more sympathetic to Remnantians as a whole than his brother. While Salem was busy trying to maintain control over the Lands of Darkness, someone with power beyond anything the Two Brothers could counter came to our planet." A knowing look flashed in his brown eyes as he asked, "Do any of you know the phrase 'One Above the Gods'?"

Jaws dropped. "That's a legend among many Faunus, Professor," Monica answered. "A being said to have saved us all from going extinct by forcing false gods away from destroying us or enslaving us to the humans." The niece of the current leader of the White Fang blushed in embarrassment. "My aunt told me that story once. It's always passed down by word of mouth, never recorded in words."

"He was real," Ozpin affirmed, glad that things could be accepted much easier among these people. If they could spread this news among their friends in the White Fang, it could ensure greater neutrality from the group if not a complete about-face in their stance concerning relations with normal humans. "His name was Ayono Ugadese. A native of Yiziba who developed the power to bend Reality Itself to his will during a catastrophic time in that planet's history. He became a virtual god among mortal beings, one who could do ANYTHING he wished." As the others shuddered on hearing the stern tone in the professor's voice, he added, "Because of that, he was forced to defend Yiziba from races who didn't care for natives of that world tapping into the universe's ultimate source of energy to evolve into what are known on Yiziba and Earth as 'metahumans', possessing powers similar to our own Aura abilities. Among those who tried to suppress Yizibajohei were the people the Two Brothers hailed from."

"They call themselves the 'Ori' as a group," Isaac added. "In truth, they're a splinter sect of a race known as the Alterans. They're humanoid as we are, but they developed on a world in another galaxy many millions of years ago. By the time they were interacting with the natives of this galaxy, they had evolved to the point where they didn't ultimately need physical bodies; shedding such forms to become a pure energy being in a process called 'ascension' was common among their kind." The Wise Lone Sage sighed, shaking his head. "Unlike most Alterans who believed it wasn't their business to interfere in the development of less advanced species, the Ori decided to pretend to be 'gods' to such species. The Two Brothers were Ori, though the 'God of Light' was — as the professor just indicated — quite the moderate for his kind; he actually wanted to help Remnantians evolve as the professor and his paramour were made to evolve and become virtually immortal. The 'God of Darkness' didn't care for that sort of thing, which made the two clash over the years. That's what brought Master Ayono into the situation two millennia ago. When he sensed the two were about to wipe out all life on Remnant, he easily BANISHED the Two Brothers out of this universe, sending them into a universe that had evolved into nothingness...where they were left to literally wither and die."

The locals all winced as they tried to imagine the power necessary to pull something like THAT off against the Two Brothers. Considering that, Monica then recalled once learning from Adam Taurus that even mentioning the legend of the "one above the gods" that was seen as the true saviour of Faunus as a whole in Salem's presence was something the Queen of Darkness did NOT care for. _Why...?!_

"I take it Ayono was forced to do that to others of their kind, Isaac," Ozpin mused.

"Indeed he did. Yiziba was something that the Ori simply couldn't deal with. Makes me wonder if their original plans for your people wasn't a possible answer to what was happening on Yiziba then."

"That still hasn't answered our question, Mister Thomas," Tara then commented. "Why are you here?"

The native of Queens chuckled. "As Ayumu — who, by the way, is the current incarnation of Master Ayono — ..." — he ignored the shocked squawks from his guests as they realized they had been close to a being who had been secretly revered by many Faunus for generations — "...told you earlier this evening, I'm an explorer at heart. I want to see new places, help people I encounter live better lives, give people the chance to truly be the best they can be. I feel it's unfair that Yizibajohei have the corner on both high technology and metahuman power. In that, I'm following in the wake of a fellow Terran who's spent the last decade finding people on Earth to have them become metahumans, Tariko Katabarbe." He tried not to frown as he wondered what the hell had happened to the future Trickster of the Show. The last thing he had heard about her was that she had found two candidates to be Gifted in her old hometown of Tomobiki outside Tōkyō proper back in September. Since that time, there had been nothing from her. She was alive; that much was clear. But as to what she had been up to...!

Mentally shaking his head to get back to the here and now, he added, "If the chance comes, I'll introduce you to her. She's not fully empowered just yet, but when she does, she'll become a reality warper like Ayumu and Margo." He tried not to smirk on seeing Monica's upper ears flatten in fear on hearing the man mention the current incarnation of the Archangel of Mortality. "Even if I didn't come to understand what the Ori did to you all, I still would come here to help people."

"To which I am glad you did come, Isaac," Ozpin declared. "I wouldn't care to have my living soul forced down on someone else in case I died when Miss Rose unleashed the Silver Eyes on Miss Fall."

"That's Blake's teammate, right?" Ken wondered. "The weapons fanatic?"

"The same person, Mister Tukson," the older man affirmed. "She is blessed with a power that — now that I've met Isaac and been reminded of all I know concerning Yiziba — might be derived from Ayono's and Ayumu's so-called 'infinite wave' capability. If you didn't know by now, any huntress with the Silver Eyes could destroy Grimm in huge numbers." He then gazed at the two android scientists. "Have you shown then what happened at the Academy CCT tower, gentlemen?"

"Indeed we have, Professor," Albert answered. "That was quite a show on Miss Rose's part. Turning a _**wyvern**_ into solid stone!" He then cackled. "I'd almost think Miss Rose has the power of a basilisk!"

"'Basilisk'?" Scott asked.

"A Terran magical serpent that has the power to literally kill by just LOOKING at its target, Scott," Isaac explained. "Very rare and seen as quite dark by magicals on Earth since they are _**THAT**_ deadly."

Shudders ran through people's bodies. "So what made Yizibajohei become metahumans?" Ken asked.

Isaac groaned. "Oh, the _**Dawn of Power**_...!"

Ozpin adjusted his glasses as the Wise Lone Sage began his tale...

* * *

_**That moment, somewhere...**_

A pair of evergreen eyes fluttered open. "What...?"

The ears of the native of Mistral perked as an uptempo melody echoed through the air...

_I'm singin' to the world,  
__It's time we let the spirit come in;  
__Let it come on in...!  
__I'm singin' to the world,  
__Everybody's caught in the spin;  
__Look at where we've been...!  
__We've been runnin' around  
__Year after year  
__Blinded with pride,  
__Blinded with fear..._

"I truly like this song, Chiyo."

"I know, Penny-san! It's one of the best Mantilow-sensei ever sang!"

Huh...

Wait...?

What?!

"_**PENNY?!**_"

A gargled croak of air then escaped Pyrrha Nikos as she sat up from the meditation bed she had been placed on, coughing on sensing that she now had a VERY sore throat. That made the two other people in this one particular cavern within the Doll House spin around before the shorter of the pair gasped. "Oh, Pyrrha-san! You lay right back down! Don't exert yourself like that!"

As the four-time winner of the Mistral Region Tournament before she came to attend Beacon Academy gazed wide-eyed at a clearly alive and intact Penny Polendina, Mihama Chiyo approached the dazed woman's side and moved to lay her back down. Despite the understandable shock on seeing the Atlesian gynoid clearly alright — even if she was in a sleeveless crystalline bodysuit that hugged her teenage form provocatively in the Mistralite's eyes; much to Pyrrha's own embarrassment, she was now dressed in the very same model of uniform — she didn't resist as the current incarnation of the Bright Genius of the Young Guns, _**R'bemguo**_ ("_**Prodigy**_"), helped her relax. "You just rest now, Pyrrha-san," the daughter of Itabashi's richest resident scolded. "You still have to mentally recover from having your soul shifted into your new body so suddenly! Just breathe in gently and let your mind relax! I'll bring something I made for you to drink to heal your throat, okay?" With a smile, the cute preteen headed off.

Pyrrha rolled her head to watch Chiyo walk into a tunnel leading into this cave-like place — the other end of the cave opened out into a vast mist-filled cavern — then she hesitantly turned to gaze once more on her opponent from the Vytal Festival. Gently raising her hand — given that she was about to become the new Fall Maiden before Cinder Fall had come in to ruin Shannon Ozpin's plans, the Mistralite warrior was able to accept the concept of "shifting souls" mentioned just now without suffering a serious brain crash along the way — she made several gestures in the universal Remnantian sign language she had learned while attending the Sanctum Academy. «I'm sorry, Penny.»

A reassuring smile came back from the adopted Atlesian. "Please calm down, Pyrrha Nikos. In the end, according to the One Above the Gods and Chiyo, we were all tricked earlier this evening when Cinder Fall and her allies attacked Vale. You must not worry, though. Everything will be repaired as easily as you and I have both been effectively repaired. It will take time, but all will be made right."

Surprised at that statement, Pyrrha moved to speak, then winced as a rasp escaped her. She then signed, «Beacon's under attack! People are dying! Cinder's on a rampage! If I don't get back there...!»

"Be calm, Pyrrha Nikos," the former gynoid insisted as she held up a cautioning finger. "The attack is ended. Yes, there were casualties, but Cinder Fall and her forces have retreated from Vale. Yes, the Beacon Academy is now occupied by the Grimm, but that will be dealt with as soon as Isaac Thomas can deploy the necessary equipment to drive them off the Academy grounds to ensure the Cross Continental Transmit System unit can be repaired." She then walked over to squeeze her former opponent's shoulder. "Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie and Liè Ren are all alive and well, Pyrrha Nikos."

Hearing that made Pyrrha blink before she breathed out, her head turning to gaze at the ceiling of this strange place. «Where are we? And who was that girl who was just with you now? She's very pretty...»

The Mistralite then gargled as her cheeks flushed, the surprise she clearly felt at the idea of taking note of Mihama Chiyo's cute looks before anything else quite apparent. "Yes, Chiyo is very pretty. We are currently in a pocket dimension created by the One Above the Gods two thousand years ago known as the 'Doll House'. Our current bodies are synthetic humanoid entities called 'battle dolls' by natives of the homeworld of the One Above the Gods. They are primed to receive the living Aura of a person who would have died to allow that person to have a better chance at life. The One Above the Gods was more than happy to agree to Isaac Thomas' request to save us both from what Cinder Fall instigated."

That made Pyrrha blink. «Okay, who or what is the 'One Above the Gods'?»

"It is a legend known among Atlesians such as myself as well as among select groups of Faunus descent from the battle between the Undying Warrior Sage of Remnant and the Queen of the Land of Darkness that saw the current state of affairs between ourselves and the Grimm ultimately evolve as it did," Penny explained. "According to the myths Atlesians know, the One Above the Gods was an invincible warrior from a distant star who was able to stop the Two Brothers from destroying all life on Remnant when the feud between the Undying Warrior Sage and the Queen of Darkness was determined to have become too bothersome to continue. He was the one who banished the Two Brothers from Remnant once and for all time. It is often in the name of the One Above the Gods that many Atlesian soldiers swear their oaths to serve in the defence of humanity against the Grimm."

The other woman blinked several times. «Professor Ozpin never told me about that.»

"Hai! Dekimashita!"

Both women turned as Chiyo walked up to them, carrying a tray bearing two large neapolitan ice cream milkshakes, complete with whipped cream and cherries on top. Setting that at the small table beside Pyrrha's bed, the Bright Genius then served them. "Hai! This will help heal your throat, Pyrrha-san," she bade as the Mistralite warrior took the offered shake. "You should be able to talk normally in about an hour or so. It's a good thing that Remnantian and Terran measurements of time are all the same."

Pyrrha paused before she gazed at Penny. "Chiyo is speaking of her planet of birth. It is called 'Earth'; the demonym used to address natives of that world is either 'Earthling' or 'Terran'. It is the third of nine planets and minor celestial bodies in the constellation of Burnie; it's the golden star in the left hand of the constellation formation." As the Mistralite's eyes went wide on hearing that, the adopted Atlesian added, "She possesses what is called a 'Gift' from the homeworld of the One Above the Gods. That is a planet named Yiziba, third of ten planets in the constellation of Gorgo; it orbits the blue-white star in the right eye. Chiyo is best friends with the current incarnation of the One Above the Gods, who is named Kasuga Ayumu; she is also originally from Earth." She gazed in confusion at Chiyo. "Thought I cannot understand why you insist on calling her 'Miss Ōsaka', Chiyo. She was born in the city of Wakayama and matured in Kōbe and Ōsaka before she came to join your class in Tōkyō..."

"_**DAMN IT, ŌSAKA! JUST BE ŌSAKA!**_"

Chiyo sighed while Pyrrha and Penny looked around for the source of that shout. "It's a long story, Penny-san..." the Bright Genius then confessed, shrugging.

"Tomo-chan! How can I be 'just Ōsaka'?!" a voice that made Penny's eyes widen in delight echoed as a human-shaped shadow appeared in the mist beyond the cave, that turning into the living body of the being known on the World of the Forge and elsewhere as the "Goddess Who Walks Among Men". "Penny-chan's right, you know! I was born in Wakayama and raised in Kōbe and Ōsaka!"

An outraged shriek echoed from Kasuga Ayumu's classmate as Chiyo shook her head, slumping in frustration. As Penny bowed in reverence to the current incarnation of the man who saved Remnant two millennia before, Pyrrha gazed upon the newcomer with her own special aura sight before her eyes went wide on seeing the supernova-like levels of power contained within this slender teenager's body. "Oi! Pyrrha-chan! Don't do that, okay?" Ayumu then cautioned as she walked up to gaze intently at the native of Atlas. "That hurts you when you do that, even if you're a battle doll now."

"What is she doing, Ōsaka-san?" Chiyo asked.

"She's using her own form of mage sight on me, Chiyo-chan. Sorta like what Penny-chan's boss did to Isaac-kun when they met in that super-cool floating coliseum of theirs late last night."

The Bright Genius gasped, then she waved her hand in front of the stunned Pyrrha, making the Mistralite gasp as she turned to gaze on the fretting pre-teen genius. "Don't do that, Pyrrha-san! Ōsaka-san's right! You're just going to hurt yourself! Just relax, okay?!"

Pyrrha blinked before an embarrassed smile crossed her face, then she signed with her hand. "She apologizes, Chiyo," Penny helpfully translated before a curious look crossed her face. "Was that Takino Tomo that just demanded that Mistress Ayumu 'just be Ōsaka'."

"Hai, Penny-san!"

«Who's that?» Pyrrha then inquired.

"Takino Tomo is a most foolish person, Pyrrha Nikos."

"_**HEY! I HEARD THAT, YOU DUMB FEMBOT!**_"

Penny blinked. "'Fembot'? What is a fembot?!"

Chiyo moaned. "_**TOMO-CHAN NO BAKA!**_"

As Pyrrha's eyes started to spiral in confusion, Ayumu gave her a shrug as if she wanted to say "What can you do?" while Chiyo ran to the cave entrance and began shouting a lot of nasty yet not vile things at the current incarnation of the Wild Warrior of Passion, _**Rimbo'o**_ ("_**Warwind**_"). As that happened, Penny walked over to the small entertainment unit and tapped a control, allowing the wonderful tunes of a song just introduced to her by the Bright Genius minutes before to play again...

_But it's daybreak!  
__If you want to believe  
__It can be daybreak!  
__Ain't no time to grieve  
__Said it's daybreak  
__If you'll only believe  
__And let it shine, shine, shine  
__All around the world...!_

As the transformed gynoid bounced her head to that wonderful music while Ayumu moved to get some food into her and Chiyo still screamed away at her classmate, Pyrrha slumped as her mind whirled over what had happened to her before she came to this weird place. After a moment, her eyes misted as the images of her friends from Team JNPR flashed before her mind's eyes.

_Jaune...everyone...please be alright...!_

_**To Be Continued...**_

* * *

**WRITER'S NOTES**

Introducing the shipgirls "salvaged" by **Saeru Hinako** (**Suiki**) (of _Sister Princess_ fame) that appear or are mentioned here:

**Fukushima Fujiko**-chūsa DNTK (**Tennō Heika Gunkan **_**Fubuki**_ [KK-156])  
**Fukushima Shirayuki**-chūsa DNTK (**Tennō Heika Gunkan **_**Shirayuki**_ [KK-157])  
**Fukushima Hatsue**-chūsa DNTK (**Tennō Heika Gunkan **_**Hatsuyuki**_ [KK-158])  
**Fukushima Miyuki**-chūsa DNTK (**Tennō Heika Gunkan **_**Miyuki**_ [KK-159])  
**Fukushima Mayako**-chūsa DNTK (**Tennō Heika Gunkan **_**Murakumo**_ [KK-160])  
**Fukushima Itsuko**-chūsa DNTK (**Tennō Heika Gunkan **_**Isonami**_ [KK-164])  
**Fukushima Urako**-chūsa DNTK (**Tennō Heika Gunkan **_**Uranami**_ [KK-165])

All seven girls mentioned above take after their _Kantai Collection_ interpretations. In Fred's stories, all Japanese warships from before 1945 get the ship prefix **THG** (short for **Tennō Heika Gunkan** ["Warship of His Majesty The Heavenly Sovereign"]). Also in Fred's stories, Japanese warships use their own indigenous hull classification code system based on native language terms; **KK **means **Kuchikukan** ("destroyer"). When summoned as shipgirls, destroyer kami are given the automatic honorary rank of **Nitō Kaisa** (literally "second rank sea commander") in the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force; out of respect for their prior service, the traditional rank title **Chūsa** (literally "mid-rank field officer") is applied. Both ranks are the equal of a Navy commander (NATO rank code OF-4) in Western maritime services. Finally, their prior service in the **Imperial Japanese Navy** (in Japanese, **Dai-Nihon Teikoku Kaigun**, abbreviated in Latin as **DNTK**) is acknowledged for service and gallantry awards.

As for the shipgirl summoned by the Americans:

Captain **Ellen Naomi Michelle "Mama Cass" Haight-Ashbury** USN (**United States Ship **_**Long Beach**_ [CGN-9])

The first concept of a shipgirl version of America's first nuclear-powered surface warship was explored by **IJNFleetadmiral** in his fanfic _**Gaijun Teitoku**_, marked as one of Fred's favourites. This version of USS _Long Beach_ as a shipgirl is named in tribute to the female singers of the Mamas and the Papas, **Michelle Phillips** and the late **Cass Elliot** (born Ellen Naomi Cohen). As for her physical looks, Naomi takes after the original art done by **Bokuman** that can be seen on Danbooru at entry #1377452.

The history of the magical government of the United States of America as depicted here can be read in Fred's _**Magic and Canada**_.

The **Tokubeppō** ("Special Code") was first introduced in Part Eighteen of the main story.

Translation list: **THG** — Short for **Tennō Heika Gunkan** ("Warship of His Majesty the Heavenly Sovereign"), the ship prefix code for Imperial Japanese warships (both Navy and Army) in the universe of Fred's stories; **Junsabuchō** — Police sergeant; **Lar'beke** — Snake leech; **Ra-naquadah** — Literally "naquadah of the soul", the Goa'uld name for mesonium as noted above.

_RWBY_ character notes: The choice of given name for **Professor Ozpin** is Fred's; it's based on the voice actor for the professor, **Shannon McCormick**. Ozpin's first-self, **Ozma**, was first mentioned in "The Lost Fable" (volume six, third episode). Yáng Xiǎo Lóng's birth mother **Raven Branwen** first appeared in "No Brakes" (volume two, eleventh episode); her proper appearance was in "Family" (volume four, fourth episode). The use of the name of the late creator of _RWBY_, **Monty Oum**, in naming things is a common trope in fanfic stories, hence Fred's choice of using the man's family name for Remnant's sun.

**Millennium** (**Leno Lu'umlo**) first appeared in Regina Magia's omake _A "Quiet" Time in Delaware_. The "**Deadliest Woman Alive**" would first appear in the side story of the same name. The "**Mighty Maid of the Mountains**" first appeared in Part Seven of the main story. The **soul wolves** were first mentioned in Part Fourteen of the main story. The race that **Albert Wily** and **Thomas Light** speak of early in the fifth scene, the **Hustari** (home planet **Hustaros**), first appeared in _The Senior Year_ story "Dakejinzō's Story". The given name to the replica of **Roll** from the _MegaMan_ series appearing here is based on her English voice in the American-made anime series, **Robyn Ross**. The two constellations mentioned by **Polly Polendina** to **Pyrrha Nikos** in the last scene are named after _RWBY_ producer **Michael Justin "Burnie" Burns** and **Fred Herriot** himself ("**Gorgo**" was his original pen name) respectively.


	3. The Ballerina Dances Anew

**DISCLAIMER: Concurrent with fair dealing clauses of the **_**Copyright Act **_**(R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42) of Canada and fair use clauses in copyright legislation in other nations, this is a work that was created solely for entertainment purposes. Furthermore, it is posted freely on the Internet without expectation or requirement of remuneration.**

* * *

_**Vale City, near the Beacon Academy, the first Monday in April, an hour after breakfast (Tōkyō time: Two hours after supper)...**_

"It's alright. I got ya, kiddo. I got ya..."

"Are they going to be alright, Qrow?"

Hearing that question from the long-haired felinoid Faunus that was the teammate of both of his nieces, the raven-haired middle-aged man with the five o'clock shadow and the sleek raven hair looked up from the stretcher carrying the unconscious Ruby Rose to gaze into Blake Belladonna's amber eyes. "She's just exhausted, kiddo," Qrow Branwen assured the younger woman as he reached over to squeeze her shoulder. "You sure you saw what you did last night?"

Blake shakily nodded. She was still severely rattled over the fact that her former lover had chased her down to the Academy while working in concert with the mysterious Cinder Fall and her friends. Never mind what that encounter did to Qrow's older niece. Wincing, she gazed over to see a whimpering Yáng Xiǎo Lóng being helped into an ambulance by her father Tàiyáng and some Atlesian medics. The normally boisterous blonde hadn't said a thing when rescue parties raced in to help the huntsmen who remained to protect their school get clear of the place before the Grimm swarmed over the property.

Then again, it was quite understandable.

One glance at Yáng's severed right arm spoke volumes.

"I'm not sure what I really saw," the native of Menagerie then warned. "I can say that it was a bright silver light. And when it burst from the tower, the Grimm just screamed in pain being exposed to it." With that, her voice trailed off as she turned to gaze wide-eyed towards the distant CCT tower.

Qrow looked himself, grimacing on seeing the petrified wyvern frozen on the sides of the tower that served as Vale's main link to the outside world. It had been the devil's luck that some of the braver medics from Atlas — no doubt driven by shame over what happened to their android troopers the previous evening — were able to find Ruby unconscious near the tower's summit. There had been no sign whatsoever of Shannon Ozpin or Pyrrha Nikos, who had been confirmed to be in the tower before everything went nuts. Nor was there a trace of any of the potential instigators of this madness.

"Silver eyes..." the veteran of Team STRQ breathed out.

That made Blake perk. "Ruby has that power?"

"Her mother had it," Qrow said, a smile crossing his face as his mind's eye called up images of the late Summer Rose. It didn't surprise him that the daughter of the founding leader of the White Fang knew about things such as that. "Never saw her pull something like THAT off..." He nodded towards the wyvern. "...but Oz always believed the potential was there. She'd be proud of what the kid did."

She nodded before turning to see the medics load Ruby into the same ambulance bearing her sister. Blake perked on seeing Yáng gaze her way for a moment, then she relaxed as the blonde gave her an understanding smile before she was gently embraced by her father. "Where are you taking them?"

"Back to Patch to let the kids recover. They punched way above their limits last night no matter what, so they deserve a break," Qrow noted.

Blake nodded before both people perked on hearing the yipping noise of Yáng's and Ruby's pet corgi Zwei as he trotted over from the gaping crowd of local residents towards the ambulance. As the medics smiled on seeing the dark-haired canine approach his beloved mistresses, Zwei stopped, his ears perking. He then gazed towards Blake, making the feline therianthrope tense; even now, she still found it uncomfortable to be close to the dog. Zwei gazed at her for a moment before he barked once, then he turned and hopped into the ambulance, moving to snuggle close to the unconscious Ruby as one of the medics closed the back door. With that, the machine — it was a converted Bullhead air transport — lifted off from the park, turning to head west over most of Vale city towards the open ocean beyond.

She watched it go, shuddering. Qrow was quick to notice. "What's wrong, kid?"

She took a deep breath. "You know Adam Taurus, don't you?"

"Know of him. Haven't met the asshole personally," he affirmed, a scowl crossing his face. She had told him about the man's involvement in his elder niece losing most of her right arm. And given his involvement with the radical elements of the White Fang, his public notoriety had been increasing by leaps and bounds over the last while. Since he had been spotted by several huntsmen during last night's fun, Adam was now marked as a prime suspect in the attack that effectively shut down Beacon's CCT tower as well as the whole of the Beacon Academy. "Bet he's laughing his ass off right now at how much he hurt you." He gave her a knowing look. "You going to try to talk your dad into taking charge of the White Fang and kicking Khan off her high throne?" he wondered.

"It's either that or Adam _**will**_ do it," she hissed. Glad people were giving her some space, the daughter of the founding leader of the White Fang added, "I've heard rumours from friends who don't care for Adam that he might depose Monica's aunt as leader of the White Fang, then launch a 'crusade'..."

"'Monica'?"

Blake perked before her cheeks reddened. "Um...she's an old friend..."

Qrow gave her a knowing look...

"Blake!"

Both people's heads jolted on hearing that shout, then they turned before a grinning woman about Blake's age jogged over, a delighted smile on her face. "Monica?!" Blake exclaimed before she was nearly crushed by Monica Khan's embrace. "What in the name of the gods are you doing here...MMPH!"

Qrow smirked as the obvious relative to the White Fang's current leader — right down to the perky cat's ears on her temples, much less the tiger stripe tattoos on her exposed chocolate-brown skin — nearly sucked the breath out of his nieces' friend with the kiss she just delivered. Before he could make a snide comment, a chuckle escaped the approaching fellow in the upscale businessman's suit with V-neck sweater, glasses protecting his blue eyes. "Friend of yours, Miss Khan?"

Monica awked before she pulled away from the slightly dazed Blake, then she turned to her new employer. "I'm sorry, Mister Thomas!" she apologized, bowing to the man Qrow now recognized as Isaac Thomas, founder and president of Renaissance Industries. From what he had learned from Ozpin, the native of a village in Vacuo now led a small team of scientists intent on developing technology that had no dependence on Dust whatsoever. Given the group was already selling several models of "power suits" — in effect, exoskeleton robots that could be used for both construction and other purposes — fuelled by some strange silvery crystal substance similar to Water Dust even if its effects were far different, Renaissance Industries was making quite the killing in the local scene. Even more so, given that the company was moving to wean all of Remnant from dependency on Dust...!

"Friend of yours?" Isaac asked again, his eyes twinkling in amusement.

Monica chuckled before she did introductions. Blake blushed as Isaac's eyes widened in recognition when her name was mentioned, though Qrow was quick to sense that such was forced. As a scowl crossed the veteran huntsman's face, Isaac bowed over Blake's offered hand as he gave her a courtly kiss, making the raven-haired teen fluster even more at such a classic form of greeting. "A pleasure to meet you, Miss Belladonna," the "Vacuan" stated. "I'm glad you survived last night's 'fun'." He turned to gaze towards the Beacon Tower and its currently frozen resident. "I trust your friends are alright."

Blake shakily nodded her head. "Yeah. Ruby's and Yáng's father just took them back home." Here, she indicated the dot in the western sky where the medical Bullhead could still be seen. "Weiss' father is on his way here to pick her up and have her taken back to Atlas City. Given what happened last night..."

"Which was not the fault of either General Ironwood or his people," Isaac cut in, raising his voice to ensure others would hear. As the Atlesians present all perked in delight on hearing that assertion, the Wise Lone Sage added, "I saw it myself! Those android soldiers were behaving perfectly until someone decided to hack into their systems and send them against the huntsmen and others who were trying to protect people throughout Vale." As people gazed his way, the native of Queens then shrugged. "It's easy for people to get confused when they don't have all the information."

"Excuse me, Mister Thomas. Do you have an idea WHO did that to those warriors?"

Everyone turned as a stern-looking middle-aged blonde with green eyes behind reading glasses came up to join them. "Professor Goodwitch!" Blake hissed.

A nod answered her from Glynda Goodwitch before the primary combat teacher at Beacon gave Qrow a strained smile. "Professor," Isaac scolded. "You can't expect Mister Branwen to NOT come when he heard what happened to his nieces. He has as much right to be concerned as Mister Xiǎo Lóng."

That made Glynda perk before she nodded as Qrow gave the New Yorker an odd look. "Yes, you're right, Mister Thomas," she affirmed. "Now that Miss Xiǎo Lóng and Miss Rose are heading home for some rest, what of Miss Schnee, Miss Belladonna?" she then asked as she gave Blake a curious look.

"Preparing for her father's arrival, Professor," the native of Menagerie warned, a wry smile crossing her face. "Given what's going on now between Atlas and Vale, Daddy Schnee wants to make sure his daughter stays safe." A snide look crossed her face. "Instead of becoming an embarrassment..."

"Not that he wasn't much of a person anyway," Monica sneered.

Glynda perked on noting Blake's current companion. "A friend of yours?"

That made the raven-haired Faunus blush. "We're...old friends, Professor..."

Qrow snickered. "'Old friends'...!"

"Qrow!" Glynda snapped.

"Bloody hell! This whole damn place REEKS! Did someone cut open a damned sewer pit here?!"

Isaac perked before he looked over his shoulder. "Ah, Neville! Just in time!"

The natives turned as a man about Blake's and Monica's age approached them from the direction of one of the large land cruiser transports brought in from Renaissance Industry's main factory site near the edge of the Forever Fall Forest at the northern end of Vale City; said trucks had been used to help transport a platoon's worth of powered suits to man the barricades blocking the grounds of Beacon Academy from the rest of the city. Dressed in rather plain clothes with a curious cut that made the natives all blink as they wondered where he came from, he had a slender foot-long stick-like device in a holster strapped to his left arm, said rod made of reddish wood with a silvery stylized handle. He had well-groomed dirty blonde hair and hazel eyes, possessing a firm and muscled body that made many women, human and Faunus alike, stare in appreciation; both Monica and Blake were two. "Came as soon as I got your message, Isaac," the future lord of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Longbottom of Holdenhurst back on Earth stated as he shook Isaac's hand. "Bloody smart of you to call me into this mess. I can't believe the STENCH that's coming from the grounds of that school over yonder!"

He nodded towards the Beacon Academy. "You can actually smell the Grimm?" Monica wondered.

The now-OWL student at Hogwarts in Scotland — who was in the first week of the two week Easter break between the winter and spring terms, to say anything of the Triwizard Tournament — winked at her, causing the dark-skinned Faunus to fluster. "Can't you, miss?" Neville Longbottom asked.

"My friend here is a dedicated botanist," Isaac immediately explained. "He's got such a refined nose when it comes to all forms of plant life that he can tell when anything is affected by the Grimm or not. According to him, their stench can be quite pungent if you get a whiff of it in the right way."

"Damn straight about that," the current incarnation of the Master of Plants, _**Ukor'be Dumdyatosi**_ ("_**Vinclozolin**_"), affirmed as he tried not to allow his face to scrunch up too much.

_**Tene lomher'buo, Neo Politan...!**_

Everyone perked on hearing that echoing voice, which seemed to emanate from the industrial district at the west end of Vale city. "Oh, hell...!" Isaac hissed.

"Someone else is here, mate," Neville warned...

* * *

_**Around the same time, within the Central Sauna Range east of Vale city...**_

"So what brought you boys over to _**this**_ planet, huh?!"

Chuckling, the part-Samoan resident of Pensacola who had worked as part of Florida Championship Wrestling under the name "Roman Leakee" for almost two years knelt, beckoning the pair of Yizibajohei soul wolves whom he just found in a clear field within a vast forest closer to him. Immediately, the two ghostly timber wolf-like beings yelped in delight before they moved to draw in the powerful scent of the man who became their latest alpha shortly after his release from the Edmonton Eskimos in 2009. Gazing at the clear day overhead, Joseph Anoa'i could only nod in appreciation. Save for the moon that looked like someone detonated the mother of all antimatter bombs on it to turn it into a permanent crescent, this place reminded Roman of the countryside around the Blue Ridge Mountains.

The _**smell**_, however...!

Roman scowled as he allowed his meta senses to reach out and scan the forest currently around him. The stench that was making his nose twist in clear disgust was all too recognizable. It was some high-density form of naquadah, invented by the so-called "Ancients" to power their Stargate network millions of years ago and later co-opted by the Goa'uld to help power their vast and diverse war machine. And while the "false mesonium" — as many people on Yiziba often nicknamed that material — wasn't truthfully harmful, it didn't take the former football player and leukemia survivor much to realize that _**someone**_ was twisting and warping it into something that was potentially dangerous...

"_**NO!**_"

The raven-haired twenty-something's head snapped around as the soul wolves by his feet snarled in anticipation of a new feast just as a teenage girl came racing out of the nearby tree line at speeds way beyond human norm, a beautiful rainbow-like stream of energy marking her wake. As Roman's eyes took in the obvious cat tail with the rose-white fur sticking out from the girl's buttocks — to say anything of the funky clothing she was wearing, not to mention the _**roller skates**_ she had on her feet, which seemed to have no problem moving through grass-topped soil! — a chorus of howls and snarls made the Floridian then focus on a platoon's worth of onyx-black beings with silver skull-like armour plating their lupine-like heads, sharp spikes and claws projecting from their bodies.

As the soul wolves roared on seeing MORE of the soul-less creatures infecting this planet, Neon Katt twirled around to skate backwards, spinning her specially-modified fighting sticks to send waves of Ice Dust at the attacking beowolves. "Damn it!" the native of Atlas city snapped. "Step on it, Flynt!"

In perfect answer, a concussive wave of sheer sound projected from deep within the trees, causing the beowolves to shriek as most of them immediately spun around to face their new attacker, bellowing agony-filled challenges. Roman winced slightly as that wave of noise washed over him; it packed quite the punch, but he'd been through worse during vacation trips in the Battlezone on Yiziba over the last few years while he learned the master the power of the Spectral Hound of the Dark Gaol, _**Rimna**_ (the "_**Grimm**_"). Noting several of the dark creatures were still chasing after the girl trying to super-speed herself from danger, the football player-turned-wrestler instantly dropped to a right-handed three-point stance, his dark hazel eyes glowing star-bright as he allowed his spirit-shredding powers to form a corona of energy around him. As soon as one of the attacking creatures got close, he lunged.

"_**HEY, MISTER! GET OUT OF...!**_"

An explosion of eldritch energy like a geyser into the sky caused Neon to stop, gaping in disbelief as the guy in the black sleeveless form-fitting uniform speared THROUGH a beowolf, physically ripping it in half! As the Faunus dropped to her butt in disbelief at such a sight, the couple of lupine-like Grimm howled their outrage at the fact that yet ANOTHER human had dared to kill one of their number.

"Whoa...!" the Atlesian fighter gasped in disbelief.

Of course, the soul wolves that had been brought here hours earlier didn't care to have their pack alpha be attacked when he was thrashing the undead beasts infecting this planet.

As the stunned Neon watched, the two silvery beowolf-like beings lunged at their darker opponents, jaws snaring the attacking Grimm by the neck and biting down hard. As her team leader Flynt Coal came charging out of the woods, his modified trumpet at the ready, both beowolves disintegrated from the bites from the mesonium-powered Yizibajohei spirit hunters who had returned from forgotten legend to scour a bleeding world clear of innumerable drifting souls during the Starvation Times.

Such acts by the visiting spirit-hunters made the other beowolves scream in outrage...

"_**JOE! WATCH YOUR SIX!**_"

...then the heads of two such creatures exploded thanks to bright white bolts of pure power smashing into them from the other twenty-something man who just appeared at the tree line off to Neon's right in a flash of energy. As the two Atlesian huntsmen watched wide-eyed, Roman spun around, making a slashing move with his left arm to send a burning wave of power through the bodies of several more of the Grimm while his co-worker from Buffalo in Iowa used his own telepathic/psychokinetic "dagger shots" to behead a few more. "Oi! You guys in this fight or what's the story?!" Seth Rollins demanded.

"_**BEHIND YOU, MAN!**_"

Even as Flynt's warning shout echoed over the field, the man born Colby Lopez dropped to the ground in a perfect somersault, getting clear just in time as a screeching imp fused with an equine Grimm leapt over the Iowan. Then, right at the moment the creature was directly overhead, a titanic burst of energy escaped Seth, literally burning through the equine Grimm and sending the now-wailing imp right at Roman. The Floridan ex-football player lunged up into the air, driving his exposed right arm into the imp's throat in a perfect flying clothesline! Such a vicious blow decapitated the beast while Roman dropped to the ground before facing the few surviving beowolves, who were now faltering on realizing that these two humans with the very agonizing mineral stench emanating from their bodies were WAY more dangerous than the two petty huntsmen they had ambushed moments before.

Sensing their intentions to press the fight from what served as their brains, Roman snarled before he flung his arms back and howled to the heavens. As Seth braced himself for what he knew was coming, the ground around his co-worker was instantly cloaked in silver mist before a PACK of silver ghost-like wolves lunged out to charge the Grimm. The natives squealed on realizing they were now outnumbered by the aliens, but they couldn't back away in time before the soul wolves were on them, biting and slashing them to ashes while the two Atlesians they had been hunting just stood there and gaped in disbelief at the savage display of the Yizibajohei spiritual version of "survival of the fittest".

In just a moment, it was all over.

As the dying squeals of the last of the beowolves were cancelled out by the hungry snarls of the soul wolves ripping them into nonexistence, Seth walked over to stand close to Roman, his mind reaching out to scan the creatures. "They feel like magical golems in a way, Joe," the current incarnation of the Assassin of Dynasties, _**Tutouo Rier'bo**_ ("_**Kingslayer**_"), commented.

"They shouldn't exist at all, Danny," the Spectral Hound snarled as his eyes flickered from their normal hazel to the burning silver that heralded the use of his spirit-shredding power which could wipe out all forms of non-corporeal life within range of him. "Some damned Ori experiment, I think..."

Seth moaned. "Oh, of course! The goddamned _**Ori**_ were here! Nice!"

"The _**One Above the Gods**_...!"

Both Americans perked before they turned...

...before they blinked on seeing the starstruck, almost reverent look on the cute teenage girl's face. Before either could ask what was going on, the dark-skinned man in the nice clothing and the fedora on his head blinked as he came over to join them. "That's just a LEGEND, Neon...!" he protested.

Neon shrugged, waving to where the soul wolves had finished off the last of the Grimm before they moved to trot over to join their pack alpha and his friend. "Then how can you explain THAT, Flynt?!"

"Okay! Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Seth cut in, holding up his hands to calm the excited girl down. "Pretend we're not natives of this planet, miss! Which we _**aren't**_, by the way!" he added, making Neon gasp as Flynt's jaw dropped in disbelief. "What the heck did you mean by 'One Above the Gods'...?"

_**Tene lomher'buo, Neo Politan...!**_

Both Terrans-turned-Yizibajohei perked on hearing that from the west. "Conservator," Roman warned.

"Isaac wouldn't start Gifting people this soon!" Seth protested.

"Yeah," his co-worker warned before kneeling to gaze at one soul wolf, who instantly perked like a playful puppy getting attention from his mother. "Can you go find our new friend?" he asked.

The creature yipped in delight before he sniffed the air, then turned to race off to the west. Before either members of Team FNKI could say a thing, something seized them in silver energy...

* * *

_**Inside a warehouse in Vale City's industrial district overlooking Patch Bay, minutes later...**_

_**Nesu...YO'OR'BEMYU!**_

A rasping howl of breath escaped the shuddering native of the slums of Vale as the energies of the Gifting faded into nothingness, allowing the lone witness to this event to clearly see Neo Politan in the uniform of the Ballerina of the Final Darkness, _**Yo'or'bemyu**_ ("_**Danzatrice**_"). Such was a form-fitting white-silver affair with matching belt and boots. The material that went into Neo's clothes seemed like the most frail of silk at first glance. Leno Lu'umlo knew the cloth that went into the just-Gifted mercenary's suit was the strongest form of tree sloth silk from the ancient forests of the western equatorial continent, which was hardened with ruby mesonium that would make such resistant to anything save a weapon forged from the most dense version of the Atom of True Life.

Speaking of which, space-warps appeared to allow Neo a chance to retrieve a virtual armoury of onyx-black long dirks that the Ballerina of Death used when she engaged in fight scenes. Those weapons — no doubt lovingly cared for and sharpened by the current incarnation of the Master At Arms and Yiziba's supreme weaponsmith, _**Hutelem**_ (the "_**Weaponeer**_") — had been used by all the incarnations of Danzatrice since the first one rose in the long-lost nation of Tutota R'batae Kutotuto, the first such country on that planet to launch intensive studies in metahuman enhancement over two sagas ago. Back then, the original Danzatrice — a pretty girl named Weiseema Simyaame, Leno then recalled — was a simple performer at a popular opera house in the capital city of R'buoletona; today, that particular location was known simply as "Habitation Two" and was known to be a major haunt for top-name heels on Yiziba. Weiseema was also quite the promiscuous woman as well, having many lovers among the government and business elite in R'buoletona; this would actually save her as the head of Kutotuto's internal security ministry at the time of the Freedom Parade saw to it she would be empowered by the Great Crystal and trained in the use of fighting daggers and swords. So armed, the ballet dancer would become a professional mercenary who was paid top money to keep people safe...before the very concept of "money" lost all meaning around the same time that the governments of Kutotuto and other nations effectively collapsed in the first seasons of the Starvation Times.

A mercenary's Gift for a professional mercenary.

There was a beautiful sense of _**balance**_ in that, the current incarnation of a far-left preacher from the northern polar continent nation of Nesetimtuto knew.

**WOW! ME **_**LIKE**_**!**

Leno then jolted on seeing what looked like a hand-painted SIGN now in Neo's hand displaying that message. The Valean mercenary blinked in confusion before she stared at the sign in her hand. Surprised that she now had another way to "speak" beyond her scroll — though how she would use something like THIS when she was in the middle of a fight scene rather mystified her — Neo then wished the sign to shift into her personal stuff-space pocket; such was something ALL Named Yizibajohei could make use of as it was a built-in function of one's uniform. Once it was away, she took a deep breath before she gazed on the Mad Prophet of the Future. Her heterochromic eyes seemed to loose focus for a second; noting that, Leno smiled as his own telepathy sensed the influx of memories where Neo's past incarnations had encountered his own past-selves. After a moment, she then nodded as the sign came out again. **STILL TRYING TO MAINTAIN THE GREAT BALANCE, HUH?** she thought out through her new "speaking" platform, her eyebrow arching knowingly.

"It is needed now more than ever, my dear," he stated as he walked over to sit on a chair beside a work table; the warehouse had been chock-full of stolen and scratch-built Paladin-290 battlesuits that had been employed by the White Fang in their part of last night's events. Waving her over to join him, he added, "You won't know this as your immediate past-self had returned to the Great Crystal by then, but one of the Nameless went and adopted a child from the World of the Keystone Jewel eleven seasons ago, pre-Gifting her to become the new Tuyuki. She was able to persuade the child to hold off on being properly Gifted until she was mature enough to mentally accept the Gift."

Neo blinked before she nodded. **MAKES SENSE. SO WHAT DID THIS KID DO?**

"She started a ceaseless casting drive on that planet to have many Named lines restored to keep that world protected from the umale on nearby planets who would covet it for whatever fool thing struck their fancy," the reborn preacher explained, making the mercenary scowl in disgust. "Almost all of them became faces or anti-heels. Would you believe that even _**Litronie Erba**_ of all people is an anti-heel?!" As her eyes went wide on hearing that — the reputation of the Archangel of Mortality was known to ALL of Yiziba, Named and Nameless alike! — he added, "She even works as a personal ASSASSIN to the leader of her home nation on Earth, in fact! Could you ever imagine such a thing?!"

She gave him a sympathetic look. **YOU MUST HAVE GONE NUTS WITH THAT GOING ON!**

"Indeed, it was maddening..."

The crashing sound of a door being smashed inward caused both to look over...

...then Neo scowled as a slender, muscular man with windswept auburn hair barely masking two bull-like black horns projecting from the temple stormed in, followed by a baker's dozen goons in the fighting uniforms of the White Fang. Behind his own Grimm-like mask, Adam Taurus' still-intact blue eye went wide on seeing the mute mercenary that worked for that prick Torchwick and some middle-aged man in a purple jumpsuit. The change of clothes from Neo's normal pink-trimmed white tuxedo jacket and form-fitting black pants tucked into white button calf-high boots was jarring, especially when one saw the two dozen or so black dirks in their sheathes hanging from straps around her lower legs, upper arms and her waist. "Who the hell is this, girl?" the current field leader of the White Fang angrily growled as his hands immediately rested on both of his chosen weapons. "He was never here last night..."

In a proverbial flash, Neo was right in his face, causing the bovine therianthrope to falter suddenly at such rapid movement. Her hand came down to gently slap his forehead as the sign came out. **DOWN, STUD! OR I'LL TURN YOU INTO A **_**STEER **_**AND CHOP YOU UP FOR THE GRIMM TO SNACK ON!**

As Leno chortled on seeing that while his eyes glittered in anticipation at the start of a cathartic fight scene which would help deal with his friend's bout of post-Gifting shock, Blake Belladonna's former lover didn't disappoint. "You BITCH!" Adam howled as he moved to snap-draw Wilt and behead her.

_**KK-KKRACK!**_

All of the White Fang members seeing this gasped in shock on seeing the crimson chokutō-like blade fly away from their leader's hand after Neo snap-drew a dirk. That movement had also sliced Adam's mask in half, causing the parts to drop to either side of him as his good eye went wide with shock on realizing how close he came to having his SKULL sliced open. Before he could react, Neo then somersaulted back to get clear of his hands, snapping up her umbrella — which had been dropped just as the Gifting got underway in earnest, so it wasn't consumed when her clothing was changed to her battlesuit — and unfolding it, twirling around to intercept several shots from one particular woman using a machine pistol. "I KNEW we should have put that bastard Torchwick to death!" Deery Tominey hissed...

_**SSH-CHLUK!**_

Adam's head snapped around...

...then he gaped on seeing the rose-haired cervine therianthrope who recently joined the White Fang blink in shocked surprise before her head rolled off her neck thanks to a dirk that ripped through her neck to impale itself on the far wall! "_**YOU BITCH!**_" Deery's boyfriend Perry Taylor roared as he levelled his own pistols at the reborn ballerina, they opening up to send a fusillade right at Neo's face.

Fortunately for her, her Aura-powered umbrella — which now had a nice silver field of energy forming around it — was more than capable of intercepting the bullets. Seeing that, Adam's other companions roared in outrage as they levelled pistols and machine guns at the dancing Neo...not to mention the other human in the room, who was still seated calmly at one side of the space.

"_**PADRE! LOOK OUT!**_"

Leno raised a hand to telekinetically intercept several shots coming his way before dispersing the bullets into nothingness, then he gazed in amusement at a now wide-eyed Neo, who had paused to reach for her throat. As the members of the White Fang in the room also stopped while their minds registered that rough yet clear woman's voice — they knew Roman Torchwick's petite yet deadly shadow was mute thanks to wounds taken a half-decade before in a street fight — the Valean mercenary-turned-metahuman dancer blinked a couple of times as she opened and closed her mouth, using short bursts of breath to try out her vocal cords, obviously reformed thanks to her Gifting.

"Damn! I can _**talk**_ now...!" she then declared with a voice that seemed quite weak from years of misuse.

That declaration was enough to shake the Faunus in the room out of their understandable daze. "_**DIE!**_" Perry roared as he levelled his rifle at her head.

Neo instantly vanished into sparkles as another fusillade of shells went her way...

...only to reappear to the dark-skinned canine therianthrope's left side, one dirk in her hand as her other hand reached out. As Perry's eyes went wide on sensing the danger, the weapon that had beheaded his lover flew into Neo's hand just as her other blade plunged into the back of his throat. "She probably thought you were DEAD in bed!" Neo snarled as she used the other blade to partially disembowel him, she tilting around to perform a spinning high-kick into a third goon's jaw, snapping that on impact!

"_**KILL HER!**_" Adam screamed as he lunged for his sword...

...before a shadow appeared over his head, causing him to look up and to the left...

...just as Roman Leakee's fist came down on his jaw in a perfect Superman punch!

"That's no way to treat a _**lady**_!" the Spectral Hound of the Dark Gaol snarled as his co-worker from Florida Championship Wrestling walked up to join him.

The others of the White Fang then gaped on seeing a dozen soul-wolves now in the warehouse...

* * *

_**Approaching the industrial district from the direction of Beacon Academy, ten minutes later...**_

James Ironwood laughed as the beautiful gynoid pilot directed the open-air skiff — one of a dozen that Isaac Thomas and his people had brought to Remnant to serve as personal transports when needed while they were setting up Renaissance Industries — towards the northwest end of Vale's industrial district. "So you're actually an _**alien**_?" the commander of Atlas' military forces wondered as the wind whipped past his grey-shot black hair, he glancing at the Wise Lone Sage.

"You don't sound so surprised, General," the native of Queens noted as he returned that look before turning back to examine his lightsabre's energy cells.

The veteran hunter smirked as he loaded his own sidearm. "The few records that survived the coming of the One Above the Gods two millennia ago did indicate he came from a distant star. Was jarring to see 'him' actually be a her. Is that common on this Yiziba planet that was mentioned last night?"

"Over ninety-seven percent of Named lines resurrect cross-gender during what we call the 'casting change'," Isaac explained, much for Ironwood's benefit as well as the benefit of the two young Faunus warriors who had come with him, Ironwood, Glynda Goodwitch, Qrow Branwen and Neville Longbottom to scout out what was happening now concerning Neo Politan. "There are some same-gender lines that exist. Yo'or'bemyu — or 'Danzatrice' as she'd be called here — is one of them."

"I recognized the name that Conservator fellow called out," Monica Khan noted as her upper ears flattened in anticipation. "Neo Politan. She's Torchwood's mute flunky."

"Yáng fought her once," Blake Belladonna noted as she squeezed the other woman's hand, earning her a blush and a smile from the other Faunus. "She almost skewered her with that cane-sword of hers. If Yáng's mother didn't show up to save her, we'd be down a teammate."

Qrow's head snapped over. "What?!" the rough-faced veteran hunter snapped. "Raven was here?!"

"That thing with the train Torchwick used to get Grimm into the city a few months ago."

As Yáng Xiǎo Lóng's uncle took that in, Isaac peered ahead, using the scanners in his glasses to focus on the high nexus of energy that would mark the presence of the current incarnation of the Ballerina of the Final Darkness. He then scowled, instantly earning him Ironwood's attention. "What is it, son?"

The Wise Lone Sage sighed. "Leno...!"

"Oh, bloody hell!"

That was the Master of Plants. "You know this person, Mister Longbottom?" Glynda wondered.

Wincing at the mannerisms the chief combat teacher of Beacon was showing — which were no different than his own head of house back at Hogwarts — the native of Holdenhurst near Bournemouth chuckled as Isaac got the gynoid piloting their ship, Mikazuki Yozora, to land them in a small parking lot a few blocks away from where the just-Gifted Neo Politan and her current sponsor were...along with two other people the Wise Lone Sage was quick to recognize. "Leno Lu'umlo, Professor Goodwitch. His battle name is 'Millennium'; tag line is 'Mad Prophet of the Future'. Reborn socialist preacher who believes these days that there has to be a spiritual 'balance' between faces and heels — the good guys and the bad guys, in other words — on Yiziba. He HATES the fact that people like I — who should be a heel — actually turned out to be faces or anti-heels in this incarnation." He shook his head. "In other words, he's trying to recruit people to ensure we'd have fight scene opponents in the Show."

The natives blinked as they took that in. "He's nuts, you mean," Qrow sneered.

"A little deranged and obsessed beyond belief when it comes to maintaining the 'balance', but he's very dangerous, Qrow," Isaac warned. "Near-cosmic level powers, including psychokinesis, broadcast empathy and telepathy. He's also very strong and fast, can fly and can resist most attacks fired his way; we call that a 'FISS-type', which means 'Flight, Invulnerability, Super-Strength and Super-Speed'. And he's precognitive, though his empathy and telepathy tend to overwhelm any visions of the future he may get. Don't get cocky with this guy if you run across him. He'll put you down fast."

Hearing that, the native of Anima nodded. Much that he was wary about this _**alien**_ of all things taking interest in his nieces, Isaac Thomas seemed to be a pretty straight shooter so far. "Anyone else?"

"Yes. Two professional wrestlers from Earth, Roman Leakee and Seth Rollins; those are their stage names, by the way. Their real names are Joe Anoa'i and Danny Lopez. Roman's the Grimm." As the natives all gaped at him, Isaac chuckled. "Sorry, forgot! He's actually a spirit-hunter with the ability to cleanse things like ghosts and the like from the mortal plane. Seth's Kingslayer. Telepath and psychokinetic; he can also use his mind to send 'dagger shots' into people to kill them."

"Why in Oum's Name would they be doing here?" Ironwood wondered as Yozora expertly manoeuvred the skiff to land virtually silently on the parking lot, a low hiss marking its passage.

"Knowing Leno, he had a pair of soul-wolves — spirit beings who help Roman cleanse ghosts and other such beings from Yiziba — when he confronted Miss Politan and offered to get her Gifted. I'll wager that they came to LOVE snacking on the Grimm," the native of Queens reported. "The soul-wolves on Yiziba all see Roman as their pack leader, so he probably came here to check things out."

Once the boarding ramp came down to allow everyone to egress, the small troupe of Atlesian soldiers who came with their leader quickly disembarked, moving to take positions at the entrances to two alleys passing between the warehouses; their target was four blocks away. "Nice flying, Miss Mikazuki," Ironwood complemented the teenage-form gynoid with the long raven hair and the amethyst eyes.

"Be careful, General," Yozora advised. "Master Leno is not a person to be crossed lightly."

The experienced hunter nodded. "We'll keep that in mind."

With that, he disembarked, followed by Glynda, Neville, Qrow, Monica and Blake, who moved to gather close to Isaac, who was kneeling by the corner of a warehouse, scanning the target zone. "Okay, we've got four dozen bandits now in the building with Leno, Roman, Seth and Miss Politan," the Wise Lone Sage warned. "All are therianthropes; 'Faunus' as you call them here. Good bet they'll be White Fang. Monica, how many people did Mister Taurus have here last night to help Miss Fall and her friends?"

"Well over a hundred," the dark-skinned felinoid therianthrope reported. "A good bunch must have faded into the crowd once it was all over and Cinder got what she wanted." A cruel smile crossed her face. "Can't wait to see the look on that arrogant bitch's face when she sees Pyrrha alive and well."

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

Then...

"Gods! You SAVED her?!" a wide-eyed Glynda exclaimed.

Isaac chuckled as he gave his new employee an annoyed yet amused look. "New girl, you need to understand how reveal scenes work!" he playfully scolded, making Monica blush as Blake snickered. "And yes, Professor, both Pyrrha and Penny are alive and well. Along with another _**old**_ friend of yours."

Here, he winked knowingly at the experienced hunters, which made Qrow, Glynda and Ironwood gape in shock. Finally, the blonde veteran huntress snickered. "Well, James, THAT certainly proves all the legends about the One Above the Gods, doesn't it?" she noted.

"Damn...!" the Atlesian leader exhaled as he gave the New Yorker hyper-genius a wide-eyed look. "Is there anything Miss Kasuga CAN'T do?" he then wondered.

"She's pretty laid back, so we really don't know how powerful she can push herself, General," Isaac explained. "Naturally, we don't push it with her."

"Pretty damn smart," Qrow chuckled. "How do we play this?"

"Split into small groups and approach from all around," the Wise Lone Sage advised. "Neville put muffling charms on you, so you won't be heard unless you really hit something very hard. Since we're dealing with Faunus — with Mister Taurus in the lead, most likely — their higher senses could pick up noise human ears can't." As the others nodded, he held up a finger. "Be warned. The instant Seth senses people are out to kill him and the others in there, he will go for head shots. No one on Remnant would be able to shield themselves from them if he's going full-tilt. Try to stay clear of his arcs of fire."

"I'll lead a group from the east," Glynda offered.

"I'll come from the north," Ironwood noted before he gazed on the Wise Lone Sage. "Isaac, you come in from the west. Qrow, can you scout about in case they got spotters?"

"Got it," the Mistralite ex-bandit noted.

In a flash of energy, he assumed his corvine-like form and fluttered into the air. Isaac watched him go, then tapped the frame of his goggles. "Thomas, Albert, keep a close eye on Mister Branwen, please."

"We're monitoring things, Isaac," Albert Wily called down from near-orbit.

Ironwood and Glynda nodded before they moved to get people to come with them on their parts of the ambush. Monica and Blake remained behind, crouched close to Neville as Isaac took a chance to scan around. "Okay, we've got possible portal breaches in the area, people," he warned as he drew out his lightsabre and ignited it; he had keyed his battle suit's communication systems into the Atlesian military network so others could hear him. "Someone might have the ability to call Grimm into this situation."

"Great! This party gets worse by the minute," Blake dryly noted as she drew out Gambol Shroud, allowing it to assume katana mode.

"Let me scout in from the south, mate," Neville advised.

Isaac nodded as the Master of Plants keyed his PAA, then teleported away. Blake watched the wizard disappear, then she shook her head. "Damn! You Terrans are a pretty lucky bunch, you know that?"

"Oh, Earth has its problems, Miss Belladonna..."

That made her blush. "Please. Blake."

Isaac smiled. "I'm Isaac. C'mon."

With that, they moved to stealthily creep down the side of the warehouse to get to the corner about fifty metres away. "So, you two know each other," Isaac quietly noted as he scanned ahead of him.

A blush darkened Monica's face as she gently gripped Blake's hand. "We used to be lovers," the niece of the current leader of the White Fang explained before she scowled as her upper ears flattened. "That is until Adam stuck his damned arrogant snout into it." As the raven-haired feline therianthrope winced, Monica chuckled as she tilted Blake's head over so they could share a kiss. "Relax, Blake! I know how much he can twist people around his claws like he did to my aunt!"

"So what made you join Isaac?" the daughter of the White Fang's original leader wondered.

"Believe it or not, he saved my life last night," Monica answered as they reached the corner of the first warehouse, then quickly crossed over to crouch behind the corner of the second warehouse. _Three more to go after this_, she mused as she drew out a beautiful particle pistol that Yozora had given her; much that her Aura allowed her to be a healer, she was a fighter as well. "I was getting sick and tired of how much Adam sucks up to Auntie; it was making me want to quit the White Fang as a whole." As Blake gaped at her, the darker-skinned woman added, "Well, encountering someone who knows the One Above the Gods — her current incarnation, I mean — made one hell of a great impression."

"You weren't hurt, were you?" Blake then asked Isaac.

He chuckled as he gave her a reassuring wink. "No, Blake, I came through it alright. As did Monica, Ken Tukson and Scott Mata. Then again, I had no choice."

"'No choice'?"

"Ken's sister Tara works for me at RI. I'd like to keep my employees happy, you know."

That made Blake gape before she snickered as they sneaked down the side of the second warehouse to close on the target. "Gray Haddock got nailed by one of those Atlesian war-bots that Fall's idiots hacked into...just right after Isaac hacked off his arm with that laser sword of his..." Monica noted...

...then she winced as a downcast look crossed her old lover's face. "Oh, damn! I'm sorry, Blake!"

The raven-haired woman shook her head. "I'm alright. Won't miss THAT creep whatsoever! Yet...!" Her upper ears drooped in shame. "I'm falling for her hard, Monica...and she suffered for me."

"Don't blame yourself for what happened to your friend, Blake," Isaac noted as he gazed at her. "From what I've learned of this guy, he's obsessive-compulsive about things and wants the world to burn for what happened to him. Your rejecting him was something he couldn't tolerate in the long term."

A groan answered him. "Oh, great! A stalker! Just what I needed..."

"Relax," he advised. "Running away from him won't solve a thing. But since you are my new employee's beloved..." — that statement made Monica and Blake madly blush before they pouted as he winked at him — "...I'll show you how you can deal with this fool. You can use your shadow-clones still, right?"

"I'm ready," the raven-haired huntress vowed.

"Good. Let's get closer..."

* * *

_**To the south of the warehouse...**_

"Hey! You kids!"

Both Flynt Coal and Neon Katt perked on hearing that hissed voice, then they looked up just as a middle-aged man with a five o'clock shadow on his face jumped down from the roof of a nearby warehouse, drawing out his articulated broadsword and moving to take position. "Qrow Branwen, right?" the leader of Team FNKI from Atlas asked, keeping his voice down. "Yáng Xiǎo Lóng's uncle?"

"Same!" the bandit-turned-hunter affirmed. "You kids came with Jimmy to the Festival, right?"

"We did. How's your niece?! We heard what that bastard Taurus did to her."

"Resting up back home right now," Qrow stated before keying his scroll. "All clear on the south side."

«_**Coming up to your position now, mate.**_»

A second later, a flash of light produced a teenage man in a dark green battlesuit with brown belt and boots, a green hooded demi-cape slung around his body and a long, think stick in his hand. Seeing him, Neon's emerald eyes sparkled. "You're from the world of the _**One Above the Gods**_...?" she squealed.

Neville Longbottom blinked before he noted the feline therianthrope's obvious tail, then he smirked. "Not as powerful as Lady Kasuga happens to be," he noted as his free reached into one of the pouches of his belt to draw out a few seeds, then he flung them ahead of them before aiming his wand.

One combined _Aguamenti_ and _Depulso_ spell later — which made all three natives gape in shock on seeing real _**magic**_ employed before their eyes — the seeds were planted into the rough gravel before they started to sprout, growing knee-high bushes with white dandelion seed-like flowers in massive bushes. Another _Depulso_ then blew the flower leaves down the alley in a miniature fog bank. "Nice!" Qrow breathed out, nodding in approval. "What the hell are those things anyway?"

"A specific invention of my tenth self," the English wizard reported as he lowered his wand. "I call it the 'mist dandelion' since it's great for causing neat fog banks."

"I'll go for that!" Flynn muttered.

"Where'd you kids come from?" Qrow asked.

"We were brought here by Master Seth and Master Roman when they heard the Spirit of the Great Crystal call out that it's time for Miss Neo to be Gifted," Neon explained, thumbing somewhere to the east. "Master Seth telepathically told us what's going on with the world where the One Above the Gods first lived." She stared wide-eyed at Neville. "Is it true? That when you die on that planet, your spirit's absorbed into the Great Crystal to be put into another person's mind in this 'Gifting' thing?!"

"That's the way it's been on Yiziba for millennia," the Master of Plants affirmed as he waved the others to come with him, sending small Depulso pulses wordlessly to force the fog bank of mist dandelion flowers to move ahead of them. He gave Qrow an amused look. "You look like you need a drink, mate."

"What did you expect?!" the Mistralite muttered. "Aliens existing?! You're from one planet but you got your Semblance from another planet where everyone there has to get Semblances just to _**survive**_?! Gods! And I thought knowing the truth about Oz was crazy?! Damn straight I'd need a drink, kid!"

"Is Professor Ozpin alright, sir?" Flynt asked.

"Yeah, he was saved by that Kasuga girl — the current 'One Above the Gods'; her handle's 'Infinity' — when she rescued your pal Penny Polendina and Pyrrha Nikos last night."

Both Atlesians gaped. "Penny's alright?!" Neon exclaimed.

"Miss Nikos, too?!" Flynt demanded.

Qrow chuckled. "Yeah, they're...!"

A flash of light made everyone spin around...

"O-ha!" Kasuga Ayumu called out.

...then a maddening squeal made the natives tense before something surged through the wall of a nearby warehouse. As Flynt levelled his trumpet on the screeching boarbatusk now about to drop down on Kasuga Ayumu, the native of Wakayama reached out with one hand, telekinetically drawing out the rest of Neville's mist dandelion seeds into her grasp. "_**AYUMU!**_" the Master of Plants exclaimed...

...before he watched as Ayumu cupped the seeds before her lips, then she blew out, creating a blast of hurricane-like force to overwhelm them with her powers. That created a super-dense cloud of mist dandelion flowers which swamped the Grimm stupid enough to attack her. The screeching creature instantly howled in mortal pain as the mesonium within those seeds ripped into its body, disintegrating it in the blink of an eye, then the Goddess Who Walks Among Men made a wave overhead to send the cloud of mist dandelions into the air, making a large fog bank that seemed to cloak Vale as a whole!

"Holy...!" Qrow exclaimed...

...then everyone perked on hearing a chorus of wails escaping from all quarters indicating that whatever Grimm were in the limits of the city were getting a very FATAL dose of the Yizibajohei version of hay fever! As a shocked look crossed Neville's face — seeing that, Qrow immediately guessed what was now going through the young wizard's head: _'Why didn't _**I **_bloody think of _**that**_?!'_ — another flash of energy produced Ayumu's classmate from Azuma Senior High School in Tōkyō.

"_**ŌSAKA-SAN!**_" Mihama Chiyo exclaimed before she shook her head, slapping her face. With that, the Bright Genius of the Young Guns approached the others, ignoring the now-gushing Neon, whose eyes were locking rapidly at the One Above the Gods, then the _**seriously**_ cute girl, then back again!

"I'm sorry about that, Neville-san!" the native of Itabashi said as she drew out a plastic bag full of mist dandelion seeds from one of the pouches of her golden jumpsuit. "Honestly! Ōsaka-san should KNOW better than just to take things from people, even if she DOES do good with them!" she declared as she handed said bag to the Master of Plants before she stared in annoyance at her best friend, who was now cackling with amusement at the fog of pretty white dandelion leaves she spread all over Vale.

"You grew these in your greenhouse?" Neville wondered as he pulled open the bag, then drew a couple seeds so he could scan them with his chlorokinetic powers.

"Back on Yiziba by the club house," Chiyo answered.

That made the older metahuman nod in understanding. He knew the Young Guns — the team of normally pre-adolescent metahumans who were cursed to die because they lost control of their powers — had a "club house" on the southern polar continent overlooking the South Ring Ocean opposite the southern tip of the central equatorial continent where the Battlezone was located. This allowed the area to get the right sort of wind and rain to keep the soil fertile despite the average low temperatures; even if Yiziba had an Earth-like climate, the presence of so much mesonium in the planet's biosphere prevented permafrost soil and tundra from forming save around the few glaciers at the poles. Given the pre-teen genius from Itabashi who was Japan's smartest student was now a VERY dedicated researcher thanks to her being Gifted as Prodigy — atop her having an organic battle doll body provided by the Infinite One to save her from the fate that befell her thirty-five previous selves — it would be quite the oddity to get seeds produced by Mihama Chiyo which were NOT perfect in every which way.

"Thanks for the seeds!" he said, winking at her.

"Er, kid...how OLD are you, anyway?!"

Chiyo gazed on Qrow, who was now wide-eyed with clear apprehension on seeing someone so YOUNG looking like she was prepared for battle. "Oh, I had my eleventh birthday last month, Qrow-sensei," she answered before she reached into another pouch to draw out a small bottle. "Here! Drink this!"

The Mistralite blinked before he took the bottle in hand. Ignoring Neon gushing at the sight of a girl who "_Just couldn't be _**THAT **_cute!_", he popped it open, then drowned the bottle in one quick gulp...

...before a gargle of agony escaped him, making him collapse into a dazed heap on the tarmac. As Flynt and Neon gaped, Qrow's eyes began to spiral as a pained moan escaped him, his body twitching as that evil liquid coursed through his system to purge out the remaining alcohol from his body, regenerate his badly-abused liver and stiffen his neural pathways to ensure he didn't suffer from withdrawal. "Honestly, Qrow-san! How on Earth are you going to help your nieces if you're constantly DRUNK all the time?!" Chiyo scolded as she walked over to pick up the bottle of her personal hangover remedy, which was based on a mixed magical/naturopathic hangover cure invented by Neville himself.

"This thing about Miss Rose's 'silver eye' power, you mean?" the Master of Plants asked.

"Hai!" the Bright Genius of the Young Guns answered.

"I thought that was a legend!" Flynt protested.

Chiyo gave the Atlesian hunter a curious look. "Um, Flynt-san, didn't you see that wyvern frozen on the side of that tower at the Beacon Academy? Ruby-san did that!"

The leader of Team FNKI blinked owlishly at that observation...

_**To Be Continued...!**_

* * *

**WRITER'S NOTES**

_RWBY_ character notes: **Qrow Branwen** first appeared in "New Challengers..." (volume three, second episode). **Tàiyáng Xiǎo Lóng** first appeared in "Round One" (volume three, first episode). Zwei first appeared in "Field Trip" (volume two, eighth episode). Both **Neon Katt** and **Flynt Coal** first appeared in "Never Miss A Beat" (volume three, fifth episode). **Adam Taurus** first appeared in the "Black" trailer where Blake Belladonna was first introduced. **Deery Tominey** and **Perry Taylor** first appeared in "Painting The Town..." (volume two, fourth episode); their family names come from their voice actors.

If anyone doesn't know who **Neville Longbottom** is, where have you been these last few decades? As an aside, **Aguamenti** is the incantation for the water-making spell learned at schools such as Hogwarts during NEWT (seventh year) studies. **Depulso** is the incantation for the banishment charm that forces objects away from its caster; this is taught during third and fourth years at schools such as Hogwarts.

Joseph Anoa'i didn't adopt his more well-known moniker of **Roman Reigns** until August of 2012 when World Wrestling Entertainment re-branded its developmental group, **Florida Championship Wrestling**, into **NXT**, reflecting the title of the television show that transmitted FCW matches on Syfy (which it had been appearing since 2010). Colby Daniel Lopez had adopted his modern moniker of **Seth Rollins** in September 2010 after he joined FCW. Both made their appearance in the main story in Part Fourteen.

Note that the **Master At Arms** was first mentioned in the main story in Part Six; she first appeared in the side story _The Deadliest Woman Alive_. **Tutota R'batae Kutotuto** is the Yizibajohei analogue of Nazi Germany; its capital city **R'buoletona** is naturally the analogue of Berlin. The **Young Guns** were first noted on altogether in the omake _The Mistress of Velocity Claims Her Man_.

By the way, a **steer** is a castrated bull.

**Mikazuki Yozora** is a character from the novel-turned-anime series _Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai_ (AKA _Haganai_), created by Hirasaka Yomi. Replicas of other _Haganai_ characters will also appear here.


	4. A Dose of Catnip A Day

**DISCLAIMER: Concurrent with fair dealing clauses of the **_**Copyright Act **_**(R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42) of Canada and fair use clauses in copyright legislation in other nations, this is a work that was created solely for entertainment purposes. Furthermore, it is posted freely on the Internet without expectation or requirement of remuneration.**

* * *

_**Vale, the grounds of the Beacon Academy, ninety minutes after breakfast (Tōkyō time: Two-and-a-half hours after supper; New York time: A half-hour before breakfast; London time: A half-hour after lunch)...**_

"Ah! Smells like Neville-san spread some mist dandelions all over town! Hina likes mist dandelions!"

As the small squadron of shipgirls who had accompanied the Living Spirit of Innocence to Remnant nodded in appreciation, the elderly English magizoologist who had been invited to come on this expedition drew his wand and cast some detection charms. "Yes, you're right about the naquadah that was in that sample Miss Black passed on to MARPA, Peter," Newt Scamander grimly noted as his eyes took in the sheer level of destruction that had befallen one of the premier huntsmen academies on this world. "If that poor wyvern frozen on that tower doesn't demonstrate things..."

Peter Candlewick grimly nodded as he drew his wand to do some spells while the reborn destroyers of the Fubuki-class formed a defensive perimeter around the group and Naomi Haight-Ashbury took a seat on a fallen peace of masonry, eyes closing as she allowed her soul to touch what she called the "Astral Plane" — it was an all-invasive energy field the reborn nuclear-powered cruiser had first detected at the moment of her rebirth in Bremerton, the American magical scientist learned — to learn what was "hip" what was and "square" here. Given their appearance, the newcomers from Earth were quick to attract attention from the distant cordon of defenders sealing the grounds off from the remainder of Vale.

"Hey! You folks from this Earth planet we just heard about?!"

People turned as a team of four teenage men came jogging over to join them. Since the Grimm who had slowly returned to the grounds of Beacon had just been wiped out of existence thanks to the clouds of mist dandelion leaves spread all over Vale because of Kasuga Ayumu and Neville Longbottom, teams of experienced Valean and Atlesian huntsmen were doing a survey of the Academy to determine the full extent of casualties and damage. Leading the group of local students was a handsome blond primate therianthrope in casual clothing. "Hai!" Hinako replied as she waved her hand to have the members of Team SSSN focus on her. "Hina, Scamander-sensei, Candlewick-sensei, Naomi-chan, Fujiko-chan and Fujiko-chan's sisters are from Earth! Are you all these 'huntsmen' Isaac-san told Hina about?"

Sūn Wùkōng laughed as he moved to kneel before the native of Niigata while the famous magizoologist from Devonshire and his former apprentice from New York state continued their examination. "Yeah! Team SSSN at your service!" As Hinako blinked on hearing the Vacuan and adopted Mistralite say the team name as "sun", the quarterstaff fighter offered his hand, which she took. Immediately moving to keep an eye on the newcomers from either side were the two eldest of the Fukushima sisters, Fujiko and Shirayuki. "Couldn't believe it when Blake passed on that the _**One Above the Gods**_ actually exists and was here last night helping out! Not to mention confirming that Isaac Thomas of all people was actually an _**alien**_ and not a Vacuan like me!" He thumbed himself in emphasis.

Hinako giggled as Fujiko and Shirayuki adopted parade-rest stances nearby, they scanning around with their eyes even if their ears were tuned in to the conversation. "Isaac-san doesn't mean any harm, Sūn-san!" the Spirit of Innocence gently scolded. "Especially now that Margo-san discovered that something those dork Ori did on Earth ended up hurting a lot of nice people here on Remnant! It's only right to help the nice people here get away from nasty Grimm like that!" Here, she waved to thumb the still-frozen wyvern, which had yet to be melted by the acid-like touch of the mist dandelions.

"We're really appreciative of that, miss," Scarlet David declared as Sage Ayana and Neptune Vasilias nodded in agreement. "Never really understood how much Faunus like Sūn care for those old legends surrounding Lady Kasuga's...um, first-self, you folks call it?" he then asked with a bewildered look.

Hinako sighed. "Hai, hai, Scarlet-san! Hina knows how confusing the whole casting change idea is! At least Fujiko-chan and her sisters and Naomi-san don't have to worry about that!" Here, she indicated her escort of shipgirls from Japan, then their new "sister" from America.

The four boys took in the wholesome looks of the seven teenage girls who had come with the Spirit of Innocence to Remnant, then they noted the slightly-dazed yet meditative look on the face of the older woman sitting on the fallen hunk of masonry nearby. "Um...is she okay?" Neptune wondered.

"It's cool, Dick Tracy," the adopted native of Long Beach and Quincy said as her evergreen eyes opened behind her goggles, then she gazed sadly around her. "Man, this is has got to be the most down place I've ever been to as ship or shipgirl. What stupid square is funking around with people here, huh?"

"That bad, Mama Cass?" Candlewick wondered as he finished his last diagnostic, then came over to join them. As Neptune whispered a curious, "'_Dick Tracy_?'" to Hinako, Scamander was examining a trace pile of Grimm ash on the nearby sidewalk with a series of very intensive probe spells.

"Yeah, Pete. The song of this world is such a downer," the reborn missile cruiser warned...

A frightening screech echoed from due east of the CCT tower!

...then people spun around as a king taijitu, its whole body smoking from contact with the acid-like flower leaves that were literally burning it alive, lunged out from the direction of the Emerald Forest towards the small group of humans with the similar scent, its fangs splayed and ready.

"_**YOU STOP RIGHT THERE, YOU MEANIE!**_"

As a burst of cosmic-level empathy exploded from Hinako to stun the approaching Grimm, the only one of Fujiko's sisters to have NOT served in the Greater East Asia War charged at it, the air around her cooling to sub-zero temperatures before she forced her cryokinesis into overdrive. "_**FREEZE, YOU BAKAMONO!**_" Fukushima Miyuki snapped as she send a storm of solid ice at the king taijitu to virtually turn it into a very ugly sculpture that wouldn't win any prizes at the Sapporo Ice Festival back in Japan.

While the four huntsmen students all gaped in awe at the sight of what the Cosmic Blizzard, _**R'bemrike**_ ("_**Miyuki**_"), just unleashed, distant shouts alerted the visitors to the approach of other locals. "Nice work, Barbara Ann!" Naomi said with an approving nod before she scanned the oncoming pair of middle-aged men with her own special meta-sight. "Ah! Local gurus! Oi, Newt! Pete! You got some local gurus coming over so you can check this square thing out!"

Scamander was already moving to send diagnostic spells at the frozen king taijitu just as Peter Port and Bartholomew Oobleck came within normal speaking range. "Good morning, gentlemen!" the Devonshire native said as he offered his hand, which Oobleck gladly took. "Newt Scamander, professor emeritus of magical zoology at your service. Are either of you teachers at this poor school here?"

The spiky-haired, bespectacled history teacher laughed. "Indeed we both are, Professor Scamander. Welcome to Vale...and I'm amazed to say this as well: Welcome to _**Remnant**_! I can't believe I'd ever get the chance to meet an actual _**alien**_ of all things right up front like this...!"

The famous magizoologist who was one of the many heroes of the Wars of Liberation decades before nodded as he shook Port's hand, then turned back to his examination. "Yes, I read Isaac's reports about how magically deprived you people are. Thank Merlin you developed metahuman powers — your Semblances, I mean — to defend yourselves from these things." He then raised his wand. "If you'll excuse me for a moment, let me get a good scan of this poor creature here..."

"Oh, of course," Oobleck said as he and Port stepped back while Candlewick came over to join them.

"Similar to dementors on Earth, aren't they?" the American researcher mused.

"Indeed. Same basic energy mixture, though naquadah-powered and not powered by extra-dimensional energy," his old teacher from Britain mused as ghostly parchments began to appear before him, revealing a very complex set of arithmantic equations that was making him scowl. "You were wise to warn me about this, Peter. Did you contact the people in Sankt-Peterbúrg about this?"

"The Russians?" Candlewick paused, then his eyes went wide. "You found something when you were in Siberia?! Back in the 1930s; when you got your Order of Koschéj upgraded to the second degree!"

"Yes! I've seen fragments of this very type of energy reside in areas known to be inhabited by gamájun," Scamander added, his scowl deepening. "And if Isaac was right and this planet was plagued by these Ori for so long, it would make a perverse sort of sense. They were believed to try to influence things on Earth around the time of the Great Banishment, especially when the Undying Lord and the Praetorian Guardian got involved in driving the Old Ones off Earth."

"What does all that mean?" a wide-eyed Port wondered.

"Twenty-five very long ones ago, Prof P, these square things from other dimensions wanted to turn Earth into their private hell," Naomi spoke up, making the natives look her way. "Thanks to the Tear of the Stars from Party Planet, a nice rock of mesonium was sent to Earth to make a local fisherman immortal. Since the squares had murdered all his family and friends, the dude..."

"The 'Undying Lord', we call him," Candlewick cut in.

"...teamed up with the great gurus who lived on Mother Earth..."

"The oldest sentient beings on our world, averaging several MILLION years old," the American helpfully added, making the natives all gape at the idea of living beings existing for THAT amount of time.

"...to send the square packing. Along the way, some of the square folk from the Astral Plane..."

"That means the Ori," Candlewick translated.

"...tried to get in on the fun, but Grandpa V drove them off."

"An immortal being known as the 'Praetorian Guardian', who protects Earth from interdimensional threats." Here, the American turned to gaze on the mystical parchments his old teacher's scans just produced. "Merlin's Beard! You mean these things are descent from the _**alconóst**_, Newt?!"

"Most likely...though we'll need our friends in Russia to confirm it," Scamander coolly declared.

"And these alconóst are, Professor?" Oobleck asked.

The magizoologist gazed at the history professor/expert huntsman. "They eat _**humans**_, Professor."

That made the natives all gape...

* * *

_**In orbit over Vale, aboard the Free Planetary State of Yiziba Starship **_**Normandy**_**, that moment...**_

"Coffee, Professor?"

Hearing that from the beautiful gynoid who was the effective captain of this remarkable spaceship, the Undying Warrior Sage of Remnant smiled as he offered his hand. "Thank you, my dear," Shannon Ozpin said as he gazed on the holographic readouts displaying the incident at the warehouse — where there were now at least SIXTY members of the White Fang confronting the just-Gifted Neo Politan along with her sponsor and two visitors from Earth; the people under James Ironwood's, Glynda Goodwitch's and Isaac Thomas' command were a block away from storming the place — as well as what was happening on the grounds of his school. "These alconóst," he then noted. "Has anyone ever heard of them?"

"Just getting the files now, Professor," Robyn Ross, who had been appointed to be Ozpin's aide while he was aboard the _Normandy_, answered from a side station.

With a flick of her finger, the blonde gynoid sent the data into the holographic display before the warrior-turned-elder teacher. Humming as the information scrolled slowly before his eyes, he then grimaced. Alconóst were creatures that had been discovered by local magical research agencies on Earth centuries ago to be a hybrid invasive species drawn from another dimension in the time leading to the Great Banishment twenty-five millennia ago. While originally subservient to the demons known commonly as the "Old Ones" these days on Earth, they later were discovered to have come under the influence of what was now believed to be some of the Ori; the "ascended" race of would-be gods had grown alarmed at the sheer levels of power being demonstrated by both the Old Ones and their opponents in the battles that led to the Great Banishment, then moved to suppress all sides. While the Ori had been driven off Earth by the "Praetorian Guardian" — a farmer from the Crimea named Résav'l who somehow gained the knowledge and power of the mysterious Seekers, the so-called First Race of the known Universe — beings such as the alconóst were dealt with by local powers such as their effective near-equivalents among the magical beings rising in that time period, the gamájun.

Ozpin sensed a smile cross his face after getting the chance to read about the race of therianthropes who had been afforded special protections by the Imperial Russian Ministry of Magic and its successive agencies in the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. Beings who could transform from humanoid form to avians to a mixed look, they were seen as living avatars of wisdom and collectors of knowledge dating back MILLENNIA; it was via the gamájun and their counterparts elsewhere on Earth that many Terran magicals would always know of events such as the Great Banishment and the later occupation of Earth by the Goa'uld just before the rise of modern civilization in places like China and Egypt.

Despite the fact that gamájun had earned such a degree of respect among the magicals of the various eastern Slavic peoples such as the Russians that they named a _**school**_ for magicals after them, these beings were often hunted by the unscrupulous for their wealth of knowledge and power. Because of this and because it was believed magical children with gamájun blood would be the equals of some of the most powerful modern warriors like Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald, various gamájun parliaments had retreated into the most inhospitable places in eastern Siberia north of China to escape the poachers. And while the Ministry of Magical Affairs in the city of Sankt-Peterbúrg threatened the worst sorts of punishments on poachers who were caught, incidents of rescuing enslaved gamájun from such hunters and their clients had been gristle for the local news media for several decades.

And...

Wait a minute...

His eyebrow arched, which made Robyn look his way. "What is it, Professor?"

"Can you bring up information concerning this 'gamájun redoubt' in Siberia, Miss Ross?"

Nodding, the gynoid tapped controls on her machine to draw up information, then she transmitted it over to display on his holographic screen. "That comes from Mistress Tat'jána Chapáeva, Professor," she reported before gazing once more at him. "It's not well known and its exact location is unsure no matter how much the Magícheskaja Milítsija have tried to secretly track it down, but it's said to be in an area that is predominated by the overall power of Túndra, the oldest of the Great Beasts."

Ozpin nodded. "Pull up a map of Russia, then display the area that Lord Túndra has influence over."

"Yes, sir."

"A theory?" Mimir Shepard wondered.

"Yes, Miss Shepard. As you just read, the gamájun elected to join the side of the Great Beasts during the End War against the Old Ones, sensing Rittmeister von Taserich's arrival on the scene was enough to tip the scales. Since they're only known to live in northern Eurasia, it's only logical that they would seek out the most powerful spiritual patron around, that being Lord Túndra of course...ah!"

Mimir saw a map of the Russian Federation appear, with areas shaded in ice blue along the Arctic coast. Icons were also present, mostly in the territory of the republic of Jakútija and neighbouring areas such as the autonomous region of Chukótka and the district of Tajmýrskij Dolgaáno-Nénetsk in the territory of Krasnojársk. "What are these locations, Miss Ross?" Ozpin asked.

Robyn read the notes provided ultimately by the current incarnation of the Careful Planner of the Circle of Thought, _**Kikhodato**_ (the "_**Philosopher**_"). "Shrines erected to Túndra by elements of the local population, Professor. They're seen as harmless by the Ministry of Magical Affairs even if rumours abound that gamájun elders secretly come to these locations when children go to pray to Túndra for his protection; they would normally bear gifts for the children as a way of extending Túndra's spiritual reach. The legends about his overall power have seeped through to the normal world; they're seen as local fairy tales by normal authorities." As Ozpin smirked — he was getting a good idea now about how far Earth's magicals had gone to hide themselves from normals, even in an age where non-magical metahumans were known to exist — the gynoid added, "Some of these places are staked out by poachers as well as agents of the Magícheskaja Milítsija trying to catch them. There have been nine incidents in the last decade where poachers were caught by officers of the Milítsija at these sites."

"Then it should be passed on to Professors Scamander and Candlewick that THERE is where contact should be made with the gamájun about the history behind their battles with the alconóst and how wiped those beings out. If we learn that, we can use it to finally expunge the Grimm from Remnant."

His voice trailed off as he considered the sheer scale of the statement he just made. In all the incarnations he had lived on Remnant since the final banishment of the Two Brothers, he had never once felt the sense of _**hope**_ now flooding his body. To see a END to the violence that rocked humanity here since the dawn of time seemed a pipe dream to him even these days, with descendants of those saved ultimately by the mercy of Ayono Ugadese forced into enclaves by the unending hordes of Grimm, no doubt driven by his former wife in her mad desire to crush all hope and bring Remnant to heel.

And to believe it was another native of the World of the Forge who had brought that hope to him.

It would have to be managed, of course. Under no circumstances could Salem or any of her current council of lackeys learn of the new powers coming in to stand against her. It was fortunate that he had much influence in Vale's central council. While rumours will fly — and the use of those mist dandelions which had been spread all over Vale City by Ayono's current incarnation would get tongues wagging — the need to keep precise information as to the nature of the people now helping Remnant be free of the Grimm from the news networks was vital. Even more so, with the CCT system now down, there was no realistic way that anyone outside Vale would be able to tap into local emergency communications or broadcast news/entertainment channels to get any sort of news over what was happening.

Fortunately, the Wise Lone Sage understood that issue quite well, as did people such as the supreme commandant of the forces of Atlas, not to mention Ozpin's own senior staff. While there were the quite annoying instances such as what Kasuga Ayumu unleashed with the unwilling help of Neville Longbottom — to say ANYTHING of the presence of a man such as Leno Lu'umlo as demonstrated when he helped young Neo Politan truly become far more than she ever could be — they could be managed. As long as media output could be funnelled and controlled, the chances of Salem guessing the game was finally now up and the tide was turning relentlessly against her could be minimized.

And Ruby Rose would be the key there.

Given Cinder Fall's obsession towards obtaining the power of the Four Maidens as witness what happened last night with Pyrrha Nikos — to say anything of what she had done to the _**proper**_ Fall Maiden, Amber Bailey, that forced the girl to be placed on life-support, rendering her helpless when Cinder again came calling last night — Salem would be easily distracted from focusing anew on Vale. Knowing his ex-wife like he did, Ozpin was confident that the Queen of Darkness would concentrate more on tracking down and eliminating Summer Rose's daughter. Anyone who had the power of the Silver Eyes _**always**_ attracted Salem's notice, being hunted down relentlessly, either by Salem's agents or others who didn't care for such people...as witness what happened to Maria Calavera years ago.

Sipping his coffee, he moved to compose a message for Newt Scamander and Peter Candlewick before turning his attention to the warehouse incident centred on Roman Torchwick's empowered aide...

* * *

_**Within a certain warehouse, that moment...**_

Adam Taurus screamed as yet ANOTHER of those vicious ebony dirks now expertly welded by the Ballerina of the Final Darkness came close to gouging a large hole in his face. "Damn you, bitch!" he snarled as he barely forced that blade away with Wilt, which now looked a little worse for wear thanks to the sheer physical density of Neo Politan's weapons. "How dare you stand up against your betters?!"

Hearing that from the field leader of the White Fang, the mercenary-turned-Yizibajohei metahuman dirk-welding urban combat warrior could only snort in amusement. Out of the corner of her eye, she was quick to note several of Adam's lackeys expending a tonne of useless ammunition trying to break down a telekinetic shield protecting her new patron from harm. A glance to her left revealed that Seth Rollins — who had politely introduced himself and his friend telepathically to Neo — and Roman Leakee were busy duelling some of the stronger Faunus working under Adam. Since the Assassin of Dynasties and the Spectral Hound of the Dark Gaol didn't seem inclined to turn up their game against the squad of squishy slights, all of the White Fang in the building seemed clearly confident of eventual victory.

_More fool them_, she mused as she opened her umbrella-sword, it deflecting shots from a particle rifle being used by one jerk from a considerable distance away. Without pausing, she flipped herself to dance over Adam's chest, causing him to awk in shock as she sent another dirk sailing through the air to punch through the would-be sniper's skill. As the bovine therianthrope snarled in anger while trying to pivot around and chop her legs off with Wilt, Neo bounded off the floor with her free hand, somersaulted back a couple times to impale another fool through the side of the rib cage, then she dropped down on said idiot's back to send him to the floor, snapping closed her umbrella.

"You know, Taurus, Roman was right about you," she snarled, her voice still sounding rough and raw even if the Gifting had pretty much healed the wounds that stole her ability to speak five years before. "You're nothing more than diseased _**animals**_ who need to be _**neutered**_!" As the people surrounding her snarled at that threat, the mercenary smirked. "Believe me, after what my new friend just did for me, I understand things about prejudice you'd NEVER get, _**umale mabeku**_!"

"Ooh!" Seth called out after he delivered a single leg dropkick into one man's abdomen, forcing all the air out of his lungs, thus allowing the Iowan the chance to lunge over and give the idiot a vicious neckbreaker which collapsed the idiot's windpipe. "Haven't heard THAT insult in over a _**series**_!"

"She's a Raer'batoguo girl, Danny!" Roman noted as he bounced off one wall, flipping himself around to deliver a two-foot drive by kick into another person's face. As said fellow stumbled onto his back from the impact, the native of Pensacola spun on another terrorist, immediately dropping her via a snap throat thrust that crushed her larynx. "You have to expect it from them...HEY!"

He snared a dirk being flung at his face. "I HEARD that, Anoa'i!" Neo snarled before twirling herself away from Adam, who was now hissing like a literal bull as he slashed away with Wilt to kill her.

Roman laughed in amusement at the new girl's spunk before he ducked and spun from the man he had kicked down, sending the dirk into his throat to literally hack off his head...

...before one cargo door leading into the space exploded inward, a wave of sound ripping through the space to stun everyone thanks to Flynt Coal's enhanced trumpet. As all the Faunus in the warehouse yelped from that ultrasonic blast assaulting their sensitive ears, the two members of Team FNKI came charging in, accompanied by Qrow Branwen, Mihama Chiyo and Neville Longbottom.

"Oi! Roman! Seth! Public or private?!" the Master of Plants barked out.

"What do you think, kid?!" Seth retorted.

"Fair enough to me!"

Drawing another handful of seeds from one of his pouches, the Devonshire wizard-turned-chlorokinetic blew them into the air. Immediately, they sprouted, forming a large fog bank of green toothed leaves mixed with pinkish-white flowers. Flynt smirked as he levelled his trumpet and sent a blast of sound at the mituhatoda cloud, allowing the leaves and flower pedals to virtually coat the room.

The effects were instantaneous.

Much to the inner delight of the Master of Plants at such a show of arrogant stupidity, half of Adam's forces were various feline therianthropes similar to Neon Katt, Blake Belladonna and Monica Khan; the OWL-year student at Hogwarts knew through Isaac Thomas about Adam's obsession with his former lover after she decided enough was enough and had put the White Fang behind her forever. The instant those peoples' noses picked up on the heavy presence of mesonium-enhanced nepetalactone in the air, all — save Neon, who was wearing a special shielding belt provided for her by Chiyo — began to moan as more primal instincts took over, sending them to their knees as they dropped their weapons.

Quickly identifying the cute blond stud in the green battlesuit for what he was, Neo then smirked as she held out her hand, flashing Roman a look. The native of Pensacola tossed the dirk over to the Valean mercenary before he dropped and knocked one fool off his feet with a leg sweep. As Adam howled in outrage on seeing that some sort of _**chemical weapon**_ had just been unleashed on his people, another cargo door leading into the warehouse exploded inward, revealing a bunch of scowling Atlesian troopers led by James Ironwood. "There he is!" the cyborg commandant of the polar kingdom's armed forces snapped, pointing at the snarling bovine therianthrope, who recoiled at the sight of people he loathed the most thanks to his past history with the Schnee Dust Company. "Take him down, men!"

"_**DEATH TO HUMANS!**_" Adam screamed as he charged at the roaring troopers.

The standing members of the White Fang screamed as they quickly converged on the new threat...

...just as two more cargo doors exploded inward, revealing a group of experienced local huntsmen under Glynda Goodwitch's command from one direction...and the Wise Lone Sage of Yiziba leading Adam's former lover and her first lover from another! Seeing all the players now getting involved in this lively fight scene, Seth then barked, "_**BATTLE ROYALE! FREE FOR ALL!**_"

Everyone charged as amused laughter from the Mad Prophet of the Future echoed over the scene...

* * *

_**Approaching the warehouse from the east, that moment...**_

Cursing herself for not staying close to her teammate during this time, Weiss Schnee kept Myrtenaster aimed ahead as the sound of battle — shouts, weapons discharging, screams and all the less noble noises that emerged from something of that nature — echoed from the large hole Glynda Goodwitch and a fair group of huntsmen opened in the building that no doubt served as the White Fang's base for last night's wonderful "fun". While she had got some sleep — after fighting all those Grimm last night, she had been dead tired at the end — she was still weary, not to mention worried about her teammates. Bad enough that her publicity-conscious father wanted her back in Atlas as soon as possible...

"Miss Weiss! There you are!"

Weiss yelped, immediately moving to summon her Semblance to form shields in case the maniacs her friends and the wonderful visitors from WAY afar — she had got Glynda's message about NOT mentioning the true origins of Isaac Thomas and that seriously handsome Neville Longbottom willy-nilly — burst out to try to attack her one friend from her childhood. "Klein?! What are you doing here?!"

A balding middle aged man with greying brown hair chuckled as he came up to stand behind her; since he was not gifted with a Semblance, Klein Sieben wisely positioned himself close to his employer's middle child to ensure his own safety in case the interesting event metres in front of them sent trouble their way. "We just arrived on the green beyond the Academy, Miss Weiss," he explained. "Your father is quite worried about you and wants you to come...GOOD HEAVENS!"

The sounds of ripping metal thanks to a human body being flung THROUGH said metal at near terminal speed made both Atlesians' heads snap over...

...then they blinked owlishly as a badly-bleeding Faunus in the white-and-black uniform of the protest movement-turned-terrorist organization whose actions helped scar the life of the young heiress of the Schnee business empire since she was a child smashed into the ground ahead of them. Before Weiss could summon her powers to defend herself, a man in a black sleeveless jumpsuit that showed off oodles of muscles came lunging out of the hole he made with the thug he had been fighting. Dropping to a three-point stance as several soul-wolves moved to gather around their pack alpha, Roman Leakee smirked as the wounded therianthrope tried to get back to his feet, summoning his power to drape him in mesonium-fuelled eldritch fire. Just as the man got back up again, then found himself immediately focusing on the living symbol of many of his people's misery, the Spectral Hound lunged.

The spear that followed sent the terrorist face-first into the side of another warehouse, snapping his neck from the impact as the Floridian ex-football player rolled back to his feet. Sensing the life leak out of the arrogant bastard — Roman telepathically sensed he was one who had taken some "liberties" with humans from Atlas before coming to Vale for last night's party — the spirit hunter snorted. "I'm sure the authorities in Atlas would love to see these idiots' bodies paraded down Main Street, Miss Schnee," he stated as he gave her a playful wink, making her blush madly at the kind face he now presented her.

"_**YOU BASTARD ALIEN! I'LL KILL YOU!**_"

Weiss summoned a glyph to defend herself and her family butler when a snarling feline therianthrope that immediately reminded her of a mixture of Blake Belladonna and the current leader of the White Fang lunged at Roman, claws extended to rip open his throat. Before she could use Myrtenaster to shoot at the hissing creature, a bolt of pure white light lashed out to punch through the back of her head, pulping most of her skull. As the twitching corpse dropped to the ground some distance from the wrestler, he nodded thanks to a smirking Seth Rollins before gazing at the dead terrorist. "Lady, get the damned script line right: It's 'You alien bastard'! You sure wouldn't star in _NXT_!"

"Oh, my...!"

Both Terrans-turned-Yizibajohei turned to see the pretty ballerina-like woman with the lovely silver hair gazing in wide-eyed awe at them. As the quite obvious gentleman's gentleman behind her nodded his thanks at Roman's and Seth's helping keep his charge safe, Weiss dispersed her glyph before walking over. "Yiziba...?" she hissed before a blush crossed her pale cheeks. "Um, did I say that right?"

Roman chuckled as all the training he had effectively undergone dealing with fans came back to him when dealing with this would-be spoiled rich kid would clearly had a heart of gold and wanted to do best for herself and those she loved. "Yeah, we are..." he began.

"_**WEISS!**_"

Hearing that voice, Weiss turned very pale while visibly wincing as Klein tried not to moan, that shout making Roman's and Seth's heads snap over...

"_**WHAT IN OUM'S NAME ARE YOU DOING?!**_" Jacques Schnee snarled as he stormed past Klein to snare his daughter by the arm, his free hand snapping up to deliver a slap right across her cheek...

_**KK-KKRACK!**_

"What the hell are YOU doing, asshole?!" the Assassin of Dynasties snarled after sending an energy bolt to explode close to Jacques' ear, deafening the man and causing him to stagger away from his child. As Weiss instinctively shifted herself closer to Roman and Klein smartly got out of the way, the Iowan stepped through the hole he made through the wall and marched over to get his hands on the greedy bastard who gladly ruined far too many lives just for his own self-aggrandizement. Seth had used his telepathy to scan all the locals to learn the situation concerning the therianthropes called "Faunus" here and what was their massive beef against normal folk. Learning that this puke had been a literal "fight scene seed" — as Yizibajohei called the people whose actions instigated battles — which had become far too distracting on Remnant in recent years, the memories of the man who had been the one responsible for the deaths of DOZENS of heads-of-state in the Dawn of Power roared back, screaming into the soul of the man born Colby Daniel Lopez to deliver a serious beat down on this prick...!

"Whoa! Not only a freaking square, but a so-called 'guru' who runs the damned SYSTEM on this rock!"

Heads snapped up...

...then people winced as a blur in red, brown and gold came down to land right behind the owner of the Schnee Dust Company, a hand instantly snapping out to snare him by the neck and send him flying HARD into the nearby warehouse wall! As the sounds of several bones breaking — though he wasn't fatally wounded by that snap toss — echoed through the alley, a certain adopted native of Long Beach and Quincy in America could only shake her head as she then calmly focused wise, all-seeing evergreen eyes on the second member of team RWBY. Weiss instantly blushed as she sensed a soul that seemed as old as Time Itself behind those orbs, then she gave the newcomer a curtsy.

That made Naomi Haight-Ashbury smile in contentment. "Oi! Oi, Barbara Ann, chill out with the square stuff, huh!" the reborn nuclear missile cruiser — whose ship name and hull classification symbol code and number were now quite clear to both Seth and Roman, both of whom were stunned at the idea of meeting _**America**_'s first warship spirit reborn as a first-generation battle doll — gently scolded as she reached over to rub the Atlesian's silver hair, causing Weiss to squawk. "C'mon, time to cross the squares' 'T' and put an end to this dumb scene! Your friend's gonna have a real downer day if Isaac don't pull a Bugs Bunny on Toro there and make the gulla_**bull**_ nin_**cow**_poop lose his horns!"

As both wrestlers laughed at those spoken references to the famous 1953 Looney Tunes short _Bully for Bugs_, Weiss' cheeks immediately turned as nuclear as Naomi's twin C1W reactors could get at times. Before she could immediately latch herself to the cruiser's arm like a limpet, flashes of energy caused people to look behind Naomi just as a huffing child's voice called out, "Naomi-san! What are you doing?! You know Isaac-san doesn't want anyone to butt into his fight scene!"

As a wave of peace and contentment washed over the locals to make them relax — even the wounded and dazed Jacques Schnee had stopped moaning, slipping into a comforting sleep — Roman crossed his arms. "Um, Hinako, when were you going to tell us all that we just got an _**American**_ shipgirl?!"

Saeru Hinako huffed as she walked over. The Spirit of Innocence was currently accompanied by two of the Fukushima sisters, Miyuki and Urako; the latter was the reborn destroyer THG _Uranami_. "Hina just found out about Naomi-san herself when she was asked to visit Wilkinson-sensei and her friends in New York City. Those dorks in MACUSA learned about Hina finding Fujiko-chan and her sisters, then tried to enslave poor Naomi-san to make her hurt Fujiko-chan and her sisters."

"Let me guess: A ton of stalebloods thought that dork move up, right?"

That was Seth, who crossed his arms in amusement. In the background, the noise of the fighting was starting to die down, even if Adam Taurus was screaming a tonne of invective to make his subordinates press on. "Hai, Seth-san! Then next thing Hina learns is Margo-san discovered something creepy about those nasty Grimm, which made Candlewick-sensei call Scamander-sensei to come to Vale to look things over! Ozpin-kōchōsensei just discovered the Grimm were made by those dope Ori from the gross stuff the creeps the gamájun once fought for Túndra-san all those years ago came...!"

"_**BLAKE, WHAT ARE YOU...AAARRRGH!**_"

Hinako perked, then she ran forward, dodging around people to head into the warehouse, with her two escorts running in behind her. As Seth sighed before he lunged in after the native of Niigata, a wide-eyed Klein stared in dumbfounded shock at Roman. "Sir, how young is that little girl...?!"

"She's only seven," the native of Pensacola reported, nearly keeling the butler over in a heart attack on hearing that. "Don't worry. The heel doesn't live that can hurt Hinako. C'mon, Weiss. You too, ma'am," he bade Naomi. "You better get Mister Schnee to the medics," Roman the advised.

The older man awked, then drew his scroll to summon assistance while the Spectral Hound and the woman now seen as the Cosmic All-Seer, _**Kyotam**_ ("_**Long Beach**_"), raced into the warehouse...

* * *

_**Inside the warehouse...**_

"Some tea, James?"

"Oh, thank you, Glynda. Miss Politan?"

A sign came up. **NOT THIRSTY YET, GENERAL.**

Chuckles escaped the Atlesian forces standing in a rough circle in the middle of the warehouse, they watching in amusement as Ghira Belladonna's only child — now driven to the point of apocalyptic rage thanks to breathing in a good lungful of Neville Longbottom's variation of catnip — lashed out at her former lover with Gambol Shroud in katana form, easily matching Adam Taurus' blocks with Wilt strength-for-strength, a development the current field leader of the White Fang was certainly NOT ready for. As James Ironwood's subordinates moved to tend to their wounded or helped the Master of Plants secure prisoners — of the sixty-six members of the White Fang save Adam present today, twenty-seven were dead with the others either intoxicated, wounded or simply subdued — an equally hissing Monica Khan was circling around behind the arrogant bull who dared try to STEAL her beloved mate, thus keeping the clearly winded Adam's head moving to and fro to make sure he wasn't going to be blindsided by either his old partner or the niece of his present leader. As local huntsmen watched in awe as the Faunus member of Team RWBY went to town on the arrogant bastard who seemed to want to see the whole world burn to ashes for all it supposedly had done to him, another Faunus student of Beacon was using Anesidora to film this moment for transmission over public media. Directing the smirking Velvet Scarlatina was a grinning Mihama Chiyo, who earned herself Yatsuhashi Daichi as a bodyguard while the Bright Genius of the Young Guns directed the leporid therianthrope into properly recording this public humiliation of the infamous leader of the White Fang.

"Blake!" Adam squealed almost like a little baby who just had his favourite toy snatched away from him for no discernible reason. "Settle down! You can't let what the humans did...!"

"_**MAKING — TOO — MUCH — NOISE — **_**STEER**_**!**_"

An onyx-black katana tip ripped into the bovine therianthrope's upper thigh, causing him to scream as he wondered what the hell was going on with his own power-absorbing Semblance. Even if Blake's blade wouldn't normally unleash a lot of power when she used it along with her own Semblance — as he himself had taught her to do so in far better times — for some reason, his powers weren't pulling in any of the kinetic energy being thrown out by Blake or her damned ex-girlfriend with her pistol, much less her own sharp finger claws. Still, he had absorbed enough energy that he could escape this place and find somewhere to retreat and heal before gathering new forces. As long as he lived...

"Hey, Toro! Quit playing with the kitty! We ain't got all day, y'know!"

Heads snapped over...

...then Adam's good eye turned from its normal blue to a burning crimson on seeing a long RED CAPE being held out dramatically by some older teenager in a red-and-gold flower-decked sleeved jumpsuit with goggles over her eyes. As the area around him grew instantly dark, an inhuman scream escaped the bovine therianthrope as he combined Wilt and Blush, then summoned up all the power of Moonslice from both within himself and his weapons to send a concentrated blast at the offensive crimson sheet.

Heads snapped around to see the bolt slam into the cape...

...then jaws hit the deck as the just-arrived transformed nuclear missile cruiser seemed to swirl, the cape glowing nearly star bright after literally sucking up all that power, such instantly supercharged with the magnified mixed mesonium and uranium energy now contained within the former battle doll body that had been created from the Great Forge five millennia before to deal with Goa'uld starships. Naomi Haight-Ashbury then spun around — earning her a dumbfounded nod from Neo Politan even if the just-Gifted mercenary was wide-eyed thanks to her psionic senses picking up what the mellow-looking woman in the traditional battlesuit really was — then sent a blast a HUNDRED times what Adam hurled her way back to sender. Such made the field leader of the White Fang gape before he was punched THROUGH the warehouse wall...not to mention five more walls in his flight path!

Roaring, Blake lunged out after him, followed by Monica as the transformed light cruiser allowed the cape she had forged with her own powers to lie on her shoulder...

...before she blushed as the two of the Fukushima sisters who had accompanied Saeru Hinako onto the scene began to applaud, with Miyuki using her powers to create ice rose sculptures and toss them towards Naomi. The adopted native of Long Beach and Quincy smiled as she snared one to "smell" it.

"Ah...me public," the Cosmic All-Seer quietly lamented.

Save for a still-stunned Neo, the Yizibajohei present — even a dumbfounded Leno Lu'umlo — gaped at her before Chiyo began to snicker. Laughter then escaped everyone who had come to Remnant from Earth or Yiziba as the natives blinked, wondering what in Oum's Name was so funny...

* * *

_**Minutes later, a half-kilometre away...**_

"_**WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU, COWARD?!**_"

Shuddering as his whole body shivered from the torrents of pain assaulting his nerves, the field leader of the White Fang opened his good eye while he shook his head to get the cobwebs out of his brain so he could figure out what to do next. Stunned at the actions of his former lover in the other warehouse, Adam Taurus hissed as he quietly committed the face of that blond bastard in the green uniform to memory so he could hunt the monster down and kill him for drugging poor Blake Belladonna like that, not to mention many of his friends who had dove in to finally fight the humans down last night...

"You seem the worse for wear, Adam," a strange voice then called out, causing Adam's breath to catch in his throat as jarred memory focused on those cultured words and the speaker's flat accent. "Must be heartbreaking to learn the TRUTH about how Miss Belladonna REALLY thinks about you."

Snarling, the bovine therianthrope pushed himself back to his feet, spinning around...

...only to gape in dumbfounded shock at the sight of a blond man his age in an off-white jumpsuit with hooded cape on a THRONE of all things five metres away, gently sipping on a goblet of wine.

"I was honestly expecting you to have left after last night's fun," the Wise Lone Sage of Yiziba then noted before sipping his drink once more. "Then again, your obsession with your former paramour seems to be very nicely clouding your better judgment." A knowing smirk then crossed Isaac Thomas' face. "Or do you HAVE better judgment at all in the end, Adam?" he then mused.

"_**TAURUS! GET OUT HERE SO I CAN **_**DISEMBOWEL **_**YOU, YOU WORTHLESS COW!**_"

Shuddering as the roaring voice of Monica Khan echoed through the cave-in hole leading into this particular warehouse he found himself in, Adam took a deep breath as he crouched down, his hands holding his two-part weapon. "How nice of you to present yourself to me, Thomas!" the field leader of the White Fang then snarled, his good eye starting to glow. "Now it's time for you to DIE!"

"Why?"

That simple question made the native Remnantian come up short. "What do you think, human?! You're a FOOL to stand in our way to see the Faunus rise to their proper place as masters of this world...!"

A rocking of the head responded from the native of Queens. "Oh, my, my! Typical gloating clichés! Heels like you NEVER seem to get tired of them, it seems! How totally _**unoriginal**_!" Ignoring Adam's angry squawk on hearing such a caustic critique, Isaac placed the goblet down on one of his throne's arms. "The very idea that both humanoid and Faunus Remnantians could actually be emotional EQUALS in society must seem like poison to such a simple-minded man like you. I guess if I happen to accept someone like Blake or Monica or yourself as my equal, that would be quite offensive..."

"_**HUMANS LIKE YOU WILL **_**NEVER **_**BE MY EQUAL!**_"

"_**TAURUS...!**_"

Adam's good eye widened slightly on hearing Monica's shriek from nearby, it echoing through open windows near the ceiling. "I'd be vewy, vewy quiet if I was you, Adam," Isaac then teased, allowing his voice to shift to do a very passable Elmer Fudd voice. "Miss Monica is hunting _**steews**_!"

As the native gargled while that statement sank into his mind — he could feel his own Semblance working overtime to recover his strength from whatever that strange woman did to him — the Wise Lone sage sighed as he stood up, shifting his cape clear to reveal a small tubular shaft of steel with controls and some sort of emitter cup hanging from his belt. "I've learned quite a bit about you and those who march to your theme music since I came to this planet last fall," Isaac noted, making Adam gape on hearing that unspoken admission from the Terran-turned-Yizibajohei hyper-genius polymath. "All you want to do in the end is force humans and Faunus to literally SWITCH PLACES in society, with people like yourself leading society and people like your friends from last night being made to slave away in the Dust mines up north." He indicated his left eye to emphasize the tattoo applied by Schnee security forces which had destroyed Adam's eye years ago. "How _**unoriginal**_! How _**same**_! You actually were a decent man once...and now, all because the woman you loved woke up to certain truths and walked away from it, you're becoming no different than JACQUES SCHNEE and his ilk!"

The man before him recoiled as if he had been splashed in acid. "_**Lies**_...!"

"Really?" the native of Queens coyly asked. "You really think people like those who were with you when Miss Politan literally tripped you up actually believe that? You really think people back in Menagerie believe that? You really think _**Blake**_ still thinks that?!" As Adam recoiled from the venom in the other man's voice, Isaac shook his head once more. "You ARE no different than Weiss' father! People, human and Faunus alike, are mere THINGS to you, to be USED and DISCARDED like mere TOYS...!"

The sounds of blaster fire, echoed with the shrieking noise of metal being torn, caused Adam to tense, his good eye snapping to and fro. "Why should I care for what humans want?!" the bovine therianthrope then snarled. "Humans will die! Once they're gone, the Faunus will rule this world...!"

"You think _Salem_ cares for that?"

The native recoiled as Isaac reached up to undo his cape, draping it on the throne behind him. Noting Adam's reaction, the Terran-turned-Yizibajohei smirked. "So you DO know of her?! The Queen of Darkness?" he wondered. "Do you think after she literally became mostly Grimm herself that she'd care for ANYONE else on this planet, human OR Faunus?" His eyes narrowed. "You're a TOOL to her, Adam. Just like Miss Fall and her friends. All TOOLS to use in her unending chess game against Professor Ozpin. You know who and what he really is now, I believe." As a grunting snort answered him. Isaac slipped his lightsabre from his belt, shifting himself to prepare his body for what was about to start. "You just want to rule this planet? Don't you know that's been that death cheater's dream for MILLENNIA?! You really think you can try to take this planet away from HER of all people?!"

"It doesn't matter!" Adam hissed as the glow of his Semblance now flaring to full strength darkened his surroundings. "Cinder will destroy that monster, then I'll destroy her to free the power of the Maidens for far more WORTHY inheritors! Without that monster driving them on, the Grimm will be exterminated along with the humans, leaving this world to US!" He levelled his combined weapons at the interfering alien human. "All Faunus will wake up to the truth soon! You think your friend will be able to get away with DRUGGING Blake like that, much less Monica?! If you don't get out of the way...!"

"You'll slice me down?" Here, the other man shook his head. "Is that all humans are to you in the end, Adam? Miserable beings full of secrets, driven by hatred and lies for those who aren't like them?"

The native smirked. "Look at my face, Isaac! What does it tell you?"

Silence.

"Have you REALLY seen your face in the mirror?"

"What does THAT mean?!"

"_**ADAM! COME OUT HERE NOW, YOU MURDEROUS BASTARD!**_"

As Adam seemed to tense on hearing his former lover's angry shout echo from outside, Isaac chuckled. "I feel like I'm talking to _Jacques Schnee_ when I talk to you!" he noted. "All prim and proper..."

"_**I'M NOT LIKE THAT HUMAN!**_"

"_**TAURUS!**_"

A smile crossed the face of the Wise Lone Sage. "...but, just like YOU, he's full of _**secrets**_, _**hatred**_ and _**lies**_!" He raised his finger to point directly at the leader of the White Fang. "_**JUST — LIKE — YOU!**_"

The other man gnashed his teeth. "What about YOU, then?!" he spat.

"Me? Oh, the fact that I'm from a different planet?" Isaac calmly noted. "There's a difference between you and I. I'm not blinded by one's physical looks or skin colour or sexual orientation or any sort of special gifts whatsoever. I look at Blake and I see a PERSON, no different than _**Monica**_ or _**Yáng**_ or anyone else!" Here, he grinned as the other man jolted on hearing the names of the two people who were moving to claim his old lover's heart these days. "And because of that, I treat them all as _**equals**_! I've done it already with those under my employ here in Vale. And something simple like _**that**_ is going to spread faster and farther than what your little hissy-fit terror raids and crimes could do!"

He slowly approached Adam, his finger touching the activation pad of his lightsabre. "All that's done in the long term is made you JEALOUS, Adam!" the native of Queens then coldly declared. "Believe it or not, Jacques Schnee is JUST as jealous of me! Why? Because I'm literally undermining his economic grip on the whole PLANET by weaning Remnant from dependency on Dust! Without any influence, neither he nor you will have any power over anyone!" He fixed Adam with a knowing look.

"Especially the one you 'love'."

As Adam snap-drew Wilt, the Wise Lone Sage chuckled. "All about _**jealousy**_..."

_**KK-KRASH!**_

Adam's head snapped over...

...then he awked as the sharp edges of a certain black variant ballistic chain scythe spun through the air at his face, making him bat away Gambol Shroud with his own blade...

_**PSSSHHEW!**_

...then he spun around to see a metre-long evergreen energy blade emitting from the device in Isaac's hand just as the Wise Lone Sage assumed a single-handed Form II Makashi duelling stance learned from Qui-Gon Jinn when the Terran-turned-Yizibajohei visited a galaxy far, far away in a different dimension some time ago. Seeing that blade, the still-intoxicated Blake Belladonna tensed as she drew back her own weapon while Isaac made a beckoning movement with his free hand's middle finger.

"Now enough talk. _**HAVE AT YOU!**_"

At that shout, Adam roared back as he charged...

* * *

_**At that moment, at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington DC, that moment (local time: Breakfast)...**_

"You can actually convert the arithmancy into your own equations to replicate this process, Elizabeth?"

The blonde Californian teenager with the blue-green eyes — fortunately, not dressed in the dark blue jumpsuit of the Wise Genius of the Circle of Thought, _**Daturie**_ (the "_**Academician**_") — slightly smiled as she placed her personal PAA on the table separating her from the current Secretary of Magic. "Magic is a science all by itself, Professor," Elizabeth Wakefield answered as she leaned back on the couch, ignoring the amused looks from the three normal men in the room. "But I will admit that I'll be clearly aided by the sheer volumes of mesonium that were injected into the atmosphere thanks to the actions of the Canadian, Australian and New Zealander magical battleships during the times of the Wars of Liberation." As Samuel Quahog grimly nodded at that observation, the lawyer's daughter who had become one of the most feared of all the Children of the Forge added, "And given how easy it was for Hinako to subconsciously lock in on the living kami of the members of the Fubuki-class destroyers she's found to date, it does lead to an interesting theory Tánja, Isaac and I have come up with."

"What theory is that, Elizabeth?" Josiah Bartlet asked from the head of the circle in the Oval Office.

"The chances are excellent that the _**Healer of Destruction **_has returned."

"But what on Earth — or Yiziba for that matter! — would make the good doctor do that sort of thing, Elizabeth?" Lord John Marbury wondered from beside Quahog. The often-inebriated ambassador of the Court of Saint James to the United States of America was here effectively on behalf of the Watchers Council who managed the operations of the Slayers, yet another particular group of paranormals who had been affected by that particular planet in the Kaeyu system many light-years away. "I mean, given the sheer level of powers the Fukushima siblings — much less Captain Haight-Ashbury — possess..."

"Could this new Doctor Destructo be from Earth?" Leo McGarry wondered.

"That's likely," Elizabeth noted as Bartlet gave his chief of staff a scornful look; the former governor of New Hampshire didn't care for that specific _**term**_ — first coined by Elizabeth's twin sister Jessica — to be used for Yiziba's first and most mysterious metahuman. "I know through the memories of my past-selves that whenever he or she has arisen from the Great Crystal of Power since the Dawn of Power, that person has always been a behind-the-scenes player. What that person could desire now is a complete mystery, but given who the Healer has chosen as effective 'point person' to allow the first generation battle dolls the chance to truly live as people does say a lot in the long term."

"If the Healer is the one responsible for this," the president noted.

"Yes, Mister President, IF the Healer is the one responsible," the first of Yiziba's triumvirate of hyper-genius polymaths whose first-selves unleashed a _**miracle**_ on that planet to end the Starvation Times noted. "Any reasonably-powered reality warper could actually have been the one to break open THAT version of the Doll House to give Fujiko and her sisters the lives their dead crews were denied. Naomi proves that ships who haven't been sunk in battle could also come back as these 'shipgirls'."

The others nodded. Too many theories, scant few facts. "Well, with the Magical Executive Order just released now, there'll be no interference from those I'm nominally the 'president' for," Quahog noted with a wry grin. As the non-magicals in the room chuckled, the current "magical president" in charge of the Department of Magic and the Magical Congress of the United States of America added, "Have either you or Miss Chapáeva begun work on summoning shipgirls on your own, Miss Wakefield?"

"Tánja's being secretive, but I know she wants to do something," the lawyer's daughter who led the team called the "Sweet Valley Boosters" answered. "As to which former warship of the Soviet Union — or Imperial Russia — would be helped to 'return to duty', I can't say. The choices are many. I doubt the cruiser _Avróra_ docked in Sankt-Peterbúrg will be one." As the others gazed at her, Elizabeth chuckled. "Too public. We want to keep things quiet when it comes to our presence here, remember."

Tired groans answered her from Bartlet, Marbury and McGarry as Quahog gave the no-maj leaders a sympathetic look. While the issue concerning the "invasion" by the Union of Uru on Earth the previous October was effectively resolved and was now being contained, details had been kept VERY top secret from interested parties from other nations. As to what was happening now within the part of the city of Nishitōkyō known as Tomobiki, that was ALSO being kept top secret. While the move to keep things in that town a total mystery to the rest of the world was quite smart in the long term — if the threat of what the natives of the fourth world of Oniboshi could have unleashed on the third world of Sol got out, the worldwide panic would have been a NIGHTMARE for local authorities to deal with! — leaders such as Josiah Bartlet would like to know SOME things to ensure their home nations were prepared just in case the limits of the "exclusion zone" the aliens agreed to adhere to was breached.

To believe the very _**name**_ of the Terran tag race champion — for example — had been kept secret from the general public, to say anything of those leaders like Bartlet...!

"Any new information concerning who forced this blackout on that town, Josiah?" Marbury asked. "MI-6 is having the devil's own time trying to pry that information from the Japanese."

"No, not at all, John," the former governor of New Hampshire affirmed. "I'm almost tempted to ask Margo to go look at things herself. Much that I understand the need to keep people calm, not knowing who I authorized the awarding of the _**Presidential Medal of Freedom**_ to because of the Tag Race...!"

"I could ask Professor Konoe Konoemon — in his capacity as the effective leader of the Eight Imperial Commanderies as you'll know — to look into it, Josiah," Quahog offered. Much to the surprise of the former transfiguration master of Ilvermorny, information concerning the Tag Race and events in Tomobiki had been effectively blocked in the magical realms worldwide as much as it had been among no-majs worldwide, which had offended everyone from Albus Dumbledore on down in the International Confederation of Wizards in Geneva as well as all member governments of that group.

"Please do so, Professor," Bartlet bade as he sat back in his chair. "I'm wondering if Tariko's sudden disappearance in September may have something to do with this." Shaking his head as the others grimly nodded — given Tariko Katabarbe's involvement in the Giftings of nearly a THOUSAND people since she started her "pretty girl quest" over a decade before, concern for the boy-turned-girl from Japan were mounting worldwide — the former governor of the Granite State turned back to his metahuman guest. "In the meantime, Elizabeth, whom do you have in mind to bring back yourself?"

A delighted smile crossed her face. "None other than the one warship who seemed to have held the line against Japan in the early years of the Pacific War all by herself, Mister President," Elizabeth answered. "As Fujiko and her sisters know her as, the _**Handmaiden of Hachiman-no-Kami**_!" At this, she tapped her PAA to project the image of a certain park located close to the Big Apple.

On seeing what was being projected, the others nodded. "Please proceed," Bartlet then bade...

_**To Be Continued...!**_

* * *

**WRITER'S NOTES**

As _Harry Potter_ fans will know, **Newt Scamander** is a magizoologist who wrote the basic text on magical creatures used at Hogwarts and elsewhere, _**Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them**_; such became the title of the movie released in 2016. His trip to Siberia is noted on in _Magic and Canada_. As an aside, the **Order of Koschéj** is Fred's interpretation of Russia's (and the Soviet Union's from 1917-91) version of the Order of Merlin. Unlike the British award, the three ranks of the Russian order are addressed as "degrees"; they also grant special honorific titles to winners, such as "Grand Warrior Sorcerer/Sorceress" for the first degree, "Warrior Sorcerer/Sorceress" for the second degree and "Sorcerer/Sorceress" for the third degree. Also, Professor **Samuel Quahog** was first mentioned in _Pottermore_; as noted before, read _Magic and Canada_ to see how the relationship between America's magical and normal population actually develops in the universe of these stories.

_RWBY_ character notes: **Sūn Wùkōng** first appeared in "The Stray" (volume one, fifteenth episode). **Scarlet David** and **Sage Ayana** both cameoed in "Extracurricular" (volume two, fifth episode) and fully first appeared in "New Challengers..." (volume three, second episode). **Neptune Vasilias** first appeared in "Best Day Ever" (volume two, first episode); as an aside, the "**Dick Tracy**" nickname that **Naomi Haight-Ashbury** gives him here is a nod to how Neptune is portrayed in the RWBY Chibi series. **Amber Bailey** first appeared in "Fall" (volume three, sixth episode); her family name is based on her voice actress, **Laura Bailey**. **Maria Calavera** first appeared in "Argus Limited" (volume six, first episode). **Klein Sieben** first appeared in "The Next Step" (volume four, first episode). His boss and Weiss Schnee's father **Jacques Schnee** is first mentioned in "The Stray" and makes his first appearance in "End of the Beginning" (volume three, twelfth episode). **Velvet Scarlatina** first appeared in "Jaunedice" (volume one, eleventh episode). And **Yatsuhashi Daichi** appeared briefly in "Field Trip" (volume two, eighth episode) before making a proper appearance in "Breach" (volume two, twelfth episode).

Translation list: **Magícheskaja Milítsija** — Magical Militia, the Russian version of Britain's Corps of Law Aurors; **Umale mabeku** — Literally "non-human same", but effectively meaning "sub-human animal"; **Raer'batoguo** — Western equatorial continent, the Yizibajohei analogue of **Europe** on Earth; **Mituhatoda** — Catnip.

Lord **John Marbury**'s affiliation with the **Watcher's Council **(from _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_) is inspired by how he is portrayed in _**The Morning After**_ by Methos2523; the British ambassador to the United States first appeared in _The West Wing_ episode named after him (first season, eleventh episode).


	5. A Trip to Humiliation City

**DISCLAIMER: Concurrent with fair dealing clauses of the **_**Copyright Act **_**(R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42) of Canada and fair use clauses in copyright legislation in other nations, this is a work that was created solely for entertainment purposes. Furthermore, it is posted freely on the Internet without expectation or requirement of remuneration.**

* * *

_**Within a certain warehouse in Vale City, two hours after breakfast (Tōkyō time: **__**Three hours after supper; New York time: Breakfast; London time: An hour after lunch)...**_

**KK-KRASH!**

_Adam Taurus' head snapped over..._

_...then he awked as the sharp edges of a certain black variant ballistic chain scythe spun through the air at his face, making him bat away Gambol Shroud with his own blade..._

**PSSSHHEW!**

_...then he spun around to see a metre-long energy blade emitting from the device in Isaac Thomas' hand just as the Wise Lone Sage assumed a single-handed Form II Makashi duelling stance learned from Qui-Gon Jinn when the Terran-turned-Yizibajohei visited a galaxy far, far away in a different dimension some time ago. Seeing that blade, the still-intoxicated Blake Belladonna tensed as she drew back her own weapon while Isaac made a beckoning movement with his free hand's middle finger._

_"Now enough talk. _**HAVE AT YOU!**_"_

_At that shout, Adam roared back as he charged..._

"Ah! Hina was right!"

Watching the confrontation between the Wise Lone Sage of Yiziba and the field leader of the White Fang of Remnant almost a kilometre away was a certain seven year-old from the city of Niigata, who had a slight frown on her face. "Right about what, Hinako?" Roman Leakee mused as he sat down beside the Spirit of Innocence while everyone in the warehouse once rented by Roman Torchwick not busy securing prisoners observed the live-time filming of the fight between Isaac Thomas and Adam Taurus courtesy of an automated camera that the New Yorker had set up earlier to force those who had allied with the bovine therianthrope from Atlas to see him being humiliated.

"Isaac-san is a HAM, Roman-san!"

"Oh?!" the Spectral Hound of the Dark Gaol prompted while his fellow American a kilometre away spun back to snare his empty wine goblet and fling it right at his opponent's face. "Why do you say that?"

"Because Hina SAYS so, Roman-san!"

That earned her raucous laughter from both Roman and his fellow Florida Championship Wrestling — not to mention the Master of Plants and the Bright Genius of the Young Guns, both of whom were helping making sure the still-living White Fang members were kept secure until Valean and Atlesian forces could see them imprisoned — while the natives all looked confused, sensing there was a joke there somewhere. "You hang around Steve too much, Hinako!" Seth Rollins commented as he picked up one of Neo Politan's onyx-black dirks to bring over to the just-Gifted Ballerina of the Final Darkness.

"Steve-san's a smart man, Seth-san!"

More laughter from the Terrans in the room. Watching them from nearby was Weiss Schnee, who had been joined by the two members of Team FNKI and the four members of Team CFVY; they were now relaxing enjoying some local ice tea. "To believe we just met real honest-to-goodness ALIENS of all things," Coco Adel mused. "They seem so much like us! Even their names are similar to ours!"

"That is pretty weird," Fox Alistair commented.

"According to Miss Chiyo, we're supposedly descended from early Terrans," Neon Katt noted, making the others gape in surprise and disbelief at her. "Our ancestors were moved here to Remnant from Earth millions of years ago by the Alterans, where these Ori that the Two Brothers actually were came from. They're the ones Team SSSN found out about from those magical researchers looking over the Academy now." Updates about events at the Beacon Academy had been sent over secure encrypted communications via people's scrolls by Bartholomew Oobleck...along with a reminder of Glynda Goodwitch's admonishment to keep this "close encounter of the third kind" — borrowing the popular Terran term for first contact between species from different planets — secret from the locals.

"Yizibajohei are also descended from Terrans; their ancestors were transplanted to that planet a little under a hundred thousand years ago," Yatsuhashi Daichi added as he scratched his chin. "And these Alterans ended up seeding Terrans all over the galaxy, it seems."

"Hopefully you'll be able to meet them soon, Yatsuhashi-san."

Everyone turned as Mihama Chiyo came over to join them. As both Neon and Velvet Scarlatina gushed once again on being close to the super-cute, bright pre-teen genius from Itabashi, the traditional leader of the Young Guns and the effective field leader of the modern Azuma Gang sat down beside Flynt Coal. "What do you mean, Chiyo?" Coco asked as she crossed her arms.

"Your planet has a Stargate, Coco-san," Chiyo noted...

...before she winced as the shrieking noise of Wilt clashing hard with Isaac's evergreen lightsabre blade made people turn to watch the projection of the duel over a kilometre away. After slicing the wine goblet in half with his blade, Adam pressed himself close to the native of Queens, though Isaac was more than experienced enough to keep the rampant bovine therianthrope away from causing him harm. "No Semblance!" Flynt declared, shaking his head in awe. "Is he using his tech?!"

"Oh, no, Flynt-san!" Chiyo answered, shaking her head. "That's just old fashioned experience and proper training under a really good teacher."

"Who was his teacher, Miss Mihama? I'd like to shake that person's hand."

People turned as James Ironwood came up to join them, accompanied by Glynda Goodwitch and Qrow Branwen. "You'll have to travel to a galaxy far, far away a long, long time ago to meet Qui-Gon Jinn-sensei, Ironwood-taishō," the Bright Genius said with a twinkle in her eye, earning her startled laughs from the other Terrans in the room as they gaped at her. The native of Itabashi then winked. "He lives in another dimension. Isaac-san followed a friend of ours, Hirosaki Chikage-san — she's a housemate of Neville-san's at Hogwarts — to that dimension to learn proper swordsmanship from the Jedi."

Jaws dropped. "You can go into ALTERNATE DIMENSIONS?!" Coco demanded.

"Hai, Coco-san!" the younger woman answered with an eager nod. "It's not really advisable to do so willy-nilly, but if you take all the right precautions, it can go alright! Unfortunately, thanks to all the mesonium scattered around this universe, you can only stay the equivalent of one solar year — depending on how long a solar year is for your native planet — in another dimension before being forced back. Only way around that if you want to stay longer — as Isaac-san and Chikage-san did — was to phase temporarily back to your home dimension before returning to wherever you were visiting."

"Sounds like a waste of time in the end," Weiss noted.

"It'd be pretty cool," Coco observed, nodding.

"What about this Stargate thing you mentioned?" Velvet wondered.

"Oh, that's a device that creates what we call on Earth an Einstein-Rosen bridge — a wormhole, I mean — between planets," Chiyo answered. "The system was made by the Alterans to help with intergalactic travel when they were exploring this galaxy millions of years ago. After they ascended to non-corporeal form, they left the Stargate network behind for other people to discover. The Stargate on Earth is being used by the military of our most powerful nation for exploration and first contact purposes."

People's jaws dropped. They then jolted on hearing running feet from outside, making people look over just as the four members of Team SSSN came into the warehouse, accompanied by most of the Fukushima sisters save Mayako. "Miss Hinako?! Are you here?!" Sūn Wùkōng called out.

Hinako looked over her shoulder, then she waved. "Hai, Sūn-san!"

Immediately, Fukushima Fujiko and her sisters moved to gather close to the woman who had effectively "salvaged them" the previous month while the team of huntsmen students from Mistral moved to join their friends. "Hinako-chan, Mayako-chan escorted Scamander-sensei and Candlewick-sensei back to Earth," the reborn leader of her class of destroyers reported. "Scamander-sensei wanted to get the sample he took from that kaijū that Miyuki-chan froze over to the Russians as soon as..."

"Whoa! Look at THAT, Nē-sama!"

Hearing the gasp of her sister Shirayuki, the adopted native of Maizuru looked up...

...then she boggled on seeing blurs of light in colliding arcs as two men tried to hack and slash away at each other. Awestruck at such a display of swordsmanship by the Wise Lone Sage, Fujiko sighed.

"Isaac-san is so COOL!" the Blizzard of Death then gushed.

Her sisters all gaped at her, then they snickered...

* * *

_**In a warehouse nearly a kilometre away...**_

Feeling a snarl rumbling in her throat even as the strange mental high she had found herself submerged in moments before began to subside, Blake Belladonna took in several deep breaths while she watched the swift-moving sword fight between her former lover and her new teacher — even if Isaac Thomas hadn't made an offer to take the feline-form therianthrope under his wing, the fact that Blake's first lover took that plunge convinced the daughter of the White Fang's first leader to do the same — that was shifting all over the floor of the warehouse. While the impossibility of someone who had NO Semblance whatsoever being able to keep up with the likes of Adam Taurus would have seemed a mad dream to Blake, seeing the Terran-turned-Yizibajohei move just as quickly as the native Remnantian with his sword strikes and a couple well-aimed kicks to the gut was making the shadow-clone manipulator realize just how BIG and VARIED the wider universe around her homeworld really was.

While part of her was understandably frightened at the idea of confronting such a universe, another part of her — the one that loved all sorts of books, including a wide selection of science fiction and fantasy that had become quite popular in recent decades — was looking forward to getting out there and actually enjoying many "close encounters of the third kind" will species of other planets.

"_**How — can — you — DO — THIS?!**_"

Blake focused on Adam as he found himself back-to-back with his opponent, then stumbled as Isaac forced a little weight on the other man, making him lose his footing. The native of Queens was on him in an instant, snaring him by the neck with one hand as he pushed down with his lightsabre on Wilt towards the native man's eyes. "Oh, just a lot of thorough and intensive training by people who would have found you a few minutes' _**annoyance**_ at the most," the Wise Lone Sage calmly explained, clearly not winded by his exertions. "You're lucky I don't have a Jedi's ability to manipulate the Force. If I did, I could easily have imitated Master Anakin's move when it comes to dealing with idiots like you..."

"_**You — are — only — HUMAN!**_"

With a burst of power thanks to his Semblance, the field leader of the White Fang back-flipped, sending his opponent tumbling onto his back, the impact on his wrist enough to knock his lightsabre clear. Adam moved to hack the impudent human in half with Wilt, barely missing as Isaac somersaulted over to his side, getting back on his feet. Having moved AWAY from his weapon, however, made the native cackle in delight as he put himself between that deadly blade and its welder.

"No more laser sword, you fool..._**UUMMPH!**_"

That was thanks to a punch to the jaw which jarred Adam's molars before his whole body then seemed to lift into the air due to a series of followup rapid gut punches, the impact of each wasn't enough to make him drop Wilt or Blush. "Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora!" Isaac chanted as he landed each blow in the soft flesh below his opponent's rib cage. "You honestly think I was never trained to fight _**hand-to-hand**_?!"

Several cheek blows made the field leader of the White Fang stagger back, his good eye starting to glaze over because of how badly those hits were jarring his brain. "You really believe I just rely on my gadgets?!" the Wise Lone Sage then wondered. "Come on, Adam! Any fool would know that! Depending on only ONE Gift on Yiziba is a fast way of experiencing your _**death scene**_!"

"_**THEN EXPERIENCE YOURS, THOMAS!**_"

A storm of energy burst forth towards the native of Queens, who dropped to the floor, pivoted and spun around with his legs, tripping up the other man and making him expend all that energy into the ceiling.

The results were...predictable.

Isaac vaulted up, then somersaulted clear as a good section of roof came down atop his opponent. As Adam screamed in anger, the Wise Lone Sage flashed Blake a knowing look, getting a nod in return...

* * *

_**Back at Roman Torchwick's old warehouse...**_

"Oh, this is going to get GOOD!" Seth Rollins noted, a knowing grin on his face.

As Saeru Hinako snickered, Neo Politan came over to sit beside the Iowan and his co-worker from Florida Championship Wrestling. "Ti'ibie?" the Valean mercenary whispered, keeping her voice down as she really didn't want any of the natives to learn that she could talk again.

"Only the best," Roman Leakee advised...

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

"That is so AMAZING!"

Isaac Thomas also had quite the audience in the Doll House as well.

"Yeah! For a guy who isn't a FISS-type, he's one hell of a scrapper!"

Both Penny Polendina and Pyrrha Nikos turned to gaze upon Takino Tomo, who was slurping down one of Mihama Chiyo's homemade shakes; since the Bright Genius of the Young Guns often worked in the pocket dimension created by the first incarnation of Yiziba's most powerful reality warper, she kept some ready supplies in one of the shallow "caves" where synthezoids were created and moulded to take in a living soul for Gifting. "How did he learn to fight like that, Tomo?" the Mistralite warrior who would have been the Fall Maiden hadn't Cinder Fall interfered like she did the previous evening asked.

"Well, we don't have those stupid Grimm on Earth, but Yiziba's got its own bunch of creepy-crawlies that are a handful to deal with," the Wild Warrior of Passion noted as she watched Isaac continue to duck Adam Taurus' more wild swings with his blade, using Muhammad Ali's patented in-ring manoeuvres which made the native of Louisville the truly greatest boxer of all time. No doubt, the Wild Lone Sage was using some of his tech in a stealth manner to make sure that the dumb bull couldn't use that "semblance" gift of his to draw in the necessary kinetic power to unleash some choice energy blasts. "And you got all sorts of fighters on the planet that'll want to duke it out with you for whatever reason, so you gotta be prepared to deliver a curb stop right back if you want to survive."

Hearing such a casual comment from the native of Itabashi who was quite the wild one even before being Gifted, Pyrrha shuddered as the implications of becoming one of the Children of the Forge sank in. While it was expected now that she would remain on Remnant to help put down the Grimm and finally end the terror campaign the Queen of Darkness had unleashed on the planet over the last two millennia, visits to Yiziba would also be in the cards. To confront a society that actually revelled in living in a state of total _**anarchy**_, with NO proper civil authority to guide various communities...!

Well, it certainly explained why some many races on planets near the World of the Forge preferred to NOT want to think of that place or those who lived there.

As the four-time winner of the Mistral Regional Tournament for huntsmen turned back to see Isaac shift to close-range grappling moves to disarm Adam — who was visibly more dazed thanks to several repeated punches to the skull — the once-gynoid native of Atlas was busy looking at a projected computer screen emanating from the remarkable "personal administrative assistant" device that had been given to her by Mihama Chiyo before the young girl had travelled to Vale to help out with the White Fang. On the screen there was the image of a human male in his late forties, with long greying brown hair tied in a simple ponytail, his face covered by a well-trimmed beard and moustache. He was dressed in a simple khaki and brown robe ensemble. Reading his biography, Penny then blinked before her eyes went wide. "Master Jinn was killed...and then REBORN?!" she demanded.

Pyrrha and Tomo gazed on her, then the latter flipped around to lean over the once-gynoid's shoulder to gaze at the screen. "Oh, yeah! Wasn't intentional," the Wild Warrior of Passion advised.

"But Yizibajohei frown on death cheating, Tomo," Penny observed.

A hand bopped her on the head, making the adopted Atlesian wince. "Oi! New girl! Pay attention! I said it wasn't _**intentional**_!" Tomo snarled. "Yeah, Chikage-chan's old man was being dumb spreading ebony mesonium around when he visited the Galactic Republic when that asshole Sidious started making his moves to take over the galaxy! He didn't realize what that stuff would ultimately do to Jinn-sensei or Maul-sensei when they and Kenobi-sensei had it out on Naboo in _The Phantom Menace_! Don't worry about it, alright?! After Chikage-chan got there on her Magical Quest last summer, she fixed it around! He'll live as long as Yoda-sensei will, but that's not death cheating, okay!"

"That'd probably fall under the category of 'luck of the fight scene', Penny," Pyrrha noted.

Considering that for a moment, Penny then nodded. "I would like to create a lightsabre," she then declared. Practically in answer to such a wish, her mind linked to the PAA to draw up a screen showing the specifications of such a device powered by the Atom of True Life, first designed by Hirosaki Chikage, the current incarnation of the Dark Heart of Pure Chaos, _**Nosyo'or'bem**_ ("_**Dragonheart**_"); such being necessitated because kyber crystals from planets such as Ilum couldn't be permanently brought across the dimensional barriers. "It seems a most interesting weapon to possess."

"'Not as clumsy or random as a blaster'," a new voice then called out, making Tomo and the two Remnantians turn as two new people arrived, one of whom made Penny's eyes nearly shoot out of her head in disbelief. "'An elegant weapon for a more civilized age.'"

A chuckle escaped the native of Coruscant who had accompanied Tomo's best friend into the Doll House. "I doubt Obi-Wan would appreciate being quoted like that, Koyomi. Especially since he never had to say that to young Luke," Qui-Gon Jinn noted as he moved to sit down where the Wild Warrior of Passion had been, his eyes focusing on the screen projecting the battle between his former duelling student and the quasi-humanoid man with the dark hair that seemed to radiate all types of hate.

The current incarnation of the Mistress of the Mind-Dive, _**Tum Kamtimta**_ ("_**Soul Searcher**_"), rolled her eyes. "Well, maybe the idiot will learn not to fall back on the old theme music many Jedi followed which allowed that shrived old monkey Palpatine to do what he did on Anakin-kun sometime after you 'died'," Mizuhara Koyomi then advised as she shifted a chair over to sit down beside Penny.

"So what are you doing here, Sensei?" Tomo wondered.

"Chikage warned me that Isaac was getting into a most interesting situation with this Remnant planet that attracted his interest sometime ago," Qui-Gon explained as he nodded in understanding. Even if he was well-trained in lightsabre combat, the Coruscanti master of the Force had understood for a long time that there were many other forms of combat to employ which didn't require the use of such a killing blade. "I assume this incident he's involved in now is part of that."

"Unfortunately so, Master Jinn," Pyrrha stated, bowing her head to him.

"Explain it to me, please."

The Mistralite smiled before she began...

* * *

_**Back in Vale at Roman Torchwick's old warehouse...**_

"That's quite the mix of fighting styles Mister Thomas is using."

Hearing that criticism from Glynda Goodwitch, the native of Buffalo in Iowa smirked as he crossed his arms. "On Yiziba, it's always wise to have a few tricks up your sleeve, especially if you're going to be living in the big cities," Seth Rollins affirmed as he indicated Isaac Thomas' image on the holographic screen. As the native of Queens flipped the dazed Adam Taurus up into a jackknife powerbomb to send the native of Atlas head-first into the hard floor of the warehouse they were fighting in — such being enough to make the field leader of the White Fang let go of both his weapons, giving the Terran-turned-Yizibajohei hyper-genius polymath the chance to flip himself in the direction of his fallen lightsabre — the current Florida Heavyweight Champion added, "You'd never expect something like THIS from a brainiac like Isaac back in the old days. It'd all be a duel of tech gadgets after tech gadgets..."

"What ultimately changed, Mister Rollins?" James Ironwood asked as he walked over to stand beside his friend while getting a closer look at the fight.

"Tariko," Roman Leakee affirmed with a smirk.

Hearing the name of the woman who had effectively launched Earth's second metahuman age, the Fukushima sisters all gazed at the native of Pensacola. "Um, Sensei, does anyone have any idea where Tariko-san is?" Fukushima Miyuki then asked. "I mean, she's been missing since September and that's almost seven months! Yeah, people say she's often vanished for a bit, but not this long..."

Saeru Hinako hummed. "Maybe Naomi-san could find Tariko-san."

"What's wrong, Little Sunshine?"

The native of Niigata shuddered in delight on hearing that cute nickname applied to her by a certain adopted native of southern California and Massachusetts. "Well, Tariko-san's been missing for a while now, Naomi-san," Hinako explained as Naomi Haight-Ashbury came over to sit on the same empty cargo box that Neo Politan was using. As the just-Gifted Valean mercenary's eyes went wide while her psionic capabilities almost got overwhelmed by the transformed missile cruiser's cosmic-level aura, the younger girl added, "People are starting to get worried about her. Could you find her?"

Naomi hummed as her head rocked to and fro while she considered that request. "Well, I gotta get back to Chocolate City to talk to Papa J about what's been going down here for the last bit. He's got to warn the cool cats at the SGC to not dial into this place until the Borg Queen's permanently deleted, if you know what I mean." Here, she gave Glynda and Ironwood a knowing look, getting understanding nods from the locals. "I'll keep in touch with you on the flip side, Little Sunshine."

And with a flash of energy, she vanished. Jaws dropped on seeing her go like that, then Fukushima Fujiko gazed at the girl who helped "salvage" her. "Um, Hinako-chan, she didn't use a PAA..."

**WHAT IN OUM'S NAME **_**WAS **_**SHE, ANYWAY?!** Neo questioned via a handy sign.

Hinako sighed. "That's a very, very, VERY long story, Neo-san..."

"There!"

Hearing Seth's warning, heads snapped back towards the holographic screen, which now showed Adam getting back to his feet, snapping up Wilt as he moved to charge towards Isaac. As the snorting bovine therianthrope seemed ready to slice his current opponent down, the Wise Lone Sage smirked...

_**PSSSHHEW!**_

"Now we're evenly matched again," Isaac calmly teased after his lightsabre blade easily blocked off Wilt's downward sweep; the native of Queens had kept his weapon behind his back as his opponent charged him before sweeping it around to parry. "Shall we finish this?"

Adam shuddered before yet another bellow of outrage escaped him...

* * *

_**Within the other warehouse...**_

The currently masked Blake Belladonna could only shake her head in awed disbelief on seeing what she now understood was a pretty normal guy despite this "Gift" which made him a virtual hyper-genius among his people standing toe-to-toe against her former lover. Even after what had to be some intensive minutes of hard fighting, Isaac Thomas didn't appear to be sweating whatsoever while Adam Taurus was now sucking in a lot of air in ragged breaths, his whole body quaking as the initial adrenaline rush he had felt on getting a chance to permanently deal with the pesky alien was obviously draining from his muscles. As she felt Monica Khan's hands grip her shoulders — the niece of the current leader of the White Fang was masked by her old lover's cloaking Semblance as they observed their new teacher's work — Blake felt her breath catch in her throat as Isaac spread his legs, his free hand thrust forward while his lightsabre was held back as if to parry something...

Roaring, Adam leapt into the air, sending Blush spiralling like a propeller at his target while sweeping Wilt up to unleash a devastating down cut with the blade to hack Isaac in half. Grinning, the Terran-turned-Yizibajohei brought his lightsabre around in a cross-cut, bashing the combined rifle/scabbard into a nearby wall with enough force to blow open a large hole. That evergreen blade of mesonium-fuelled plasma then caught Wilt effortlessly as Isaac spun and twirled, sending the Remnantian flying out the hole he just made with the native's weapon. As Adam crashed down on the street beyond, Isaac calmly followed him outside, which prompted Blake to become visible, then she beckoned Monica to follow her out the original hole their fellow Faunus had made at the start of this confrontation.

Once clear of the portal he just made with Blush, Isaac's blade twirled to catch several bolts of energy from said scabbard/rifle, sending those beams of energy careening off harmlessly into the air. Seeing that, Adam howled as his whole body seemed to darken, then he triggered his Semblance and charged at a near blur on his target, leaping once more into the air to cut Isaac down. Instantly, an explosion of smoke masked the blond man in a dense cloud of grey, though Adam instinctively knew that there was just no way that the annoying human could dodge or parry something like this...

_**KK-KRUNCH!**_

A howling scream escaped the field leader of the White Fang as a boot slammed into his groin!

* * *

_**Back in Roman Torchwick's old warehouse...**_

All the men there — regardless if they were Remnantian, Terran or Yizibajohei — instantly winced, their legs coming together instinctively on seeing such a nasty strike by the Wise Lone Sage.

**THE SQUIRREL MANOEUVRE!** Neo Politan signed, grinning. **ALWAYS GO FOR THE NUTS!**

Seeing that, the older girls roared with laughter as Saeru Hinako and Mihama Chiyo rolled their eyes...

* * *

_**Back once more outside a certain warehouse...**_

Adam Taurus snarled as he tried to dismiss the near-blinding pain shooting up from between his legs. As he slowly tried to get back up, the voice of his current opponent then teased, "And your next line is..."

"_**YOU'RE READING MY MOVES! HOW?!**_"

The field leader of the White Fang jolted as he fully recovered, staring in dumbfounded shock at the Wise Lone Sage; both men had shouted those words. "It was quite easy to predict," Isaac Thomas calmly stated as he returned to the quite dramatic and disciplined Form III Soresu opening stance he started this latest bout with. "Learn some new moves for a change, Adam! It was child's play to figure out your fighting style; I just finished analyzing it now! After I'm done with you, I'll make VERY sure that both Blake AND Yáng know how to put you down like the rabid BULL you are!"

Snarling, Adam quickly bounded up to the roof of the neighbouring warehouse, using his free hand to beckon his opponent up. "High ground, Isaac! It's over! Surrender and I'll make your death quick!"

"Don't underestimate my powers, Adam!"

And with that, the Wise Lone Sage leapt into the air, bounding high enough to do unto Adam what the latter had tried to do on the former a moment before. Cackling, the bovine therianthrope leapt up, Wilt becoming a blinding crimson blur to decapitate and dismember the annoying human, causing body parts to drop both on the warehouse roof and the street below. As the native of Atlas dropped back to the roof with a delighted scream of triumph, a FAMILIAR voice then teased, "You will now say..."

"_**Good riddance to you, fool!**_"

That caused Adam to jolt in disbelief...as the body parts of his "fallen" opponent instantly vanished, replaced by a tiny spheroid machine that was floating in mid-air at his eye level even if a fair-sized cut in the metallic hull allowed severed circuits to spark. Blinking on realizing that yet AGAIN, Isaac had predicted EXACTLY what he was going to say, Adam slowly turned around...

...as the air about two metres behind him fizzled into the very intact body of the native of Queens, his lightsabre held down by his side. "You just wrecked a perfectly good _**hologram projector**_, Adam," Isaac said with a sarcastic smile. "While I was keeping you busy, Blake — who watched it all from the shadows — was so nice to set it up for me just in case this would happen."

As the darkened areas of the Remnantian's body began to fizzle indicating that Adam was starting to lose conscious control over his Semblance, the native of Atlas sputtered out, "H-how...? Th-that's not p-p-POSSIBLE...! You're only HUMAN...! _**YOU'RE ONLY HUMAN!**_"

"Oh, spare me that!" the Terran-turned-Yizibajohei sneered. "'_**Umale mabeku**_', Miss Politan called you! In my adopted language, it literally means 'sub-human trash'. Rather befitting for someone like you, Mister Taurus!" As that statement sank home, making Adam's teeth gnash as his Semblance darkened, Isaac's finger tapped a control on his lightsabre to turn the evergreen blade into a dark ruby shade with a core of pure black. "And no, I don't mean your physical looks! I've been a dozen moves ahead of you all this time! Predicting you is BORING! And that's NOT a state you'd want someone like me in!"

With a scream, Adam leapt up and back to attempt a retreat...

...only to have his tunic sliced opened by Isaac's lightsabre, the sudden injection of ebony-pattern mesonium being enough to send the equivalent of THOUSANDS of volts of electricity through the Remnantian's body and nicely disrupt his Semblance. As a howling scream escaped the field leader of the White Fang — instantly cut off when he crashed down on the roof of the warehouse where he had first confronted the Wise Lone Sage — the native of Queens dropped down to a perfect three-point stance nearly, he deactivating the blade before securing it on his belt, then he calmly rose to his feet.

"Checkmate."

* * *

_**Back where everyone else was...**_

A roaring scream of delight escaped all the locals who saw this save for the captive members of the White Fang, all of whom looked devastated at the sight of their incredibly strong leader being brought down so easily by a mere HUMAN of all things. As Seth Rollins and Roman Leakee high-fived each other and the Fukushima sisters all screamed banzai cheers at such an unbelievable show of swordsmanship, Leno Lu'umlo nodded in delight before teleporting himself off Remnant for home.

Only Neo Politan noted his departure...

* * *

_**And once again with Isaac and Adam...**_

"Do it...finish me off...!"

Hearing that groaned hiss from Adam Taurus, Isaac Thomas shook his head. "No," the Wise Lone Sage calmly answered. "Killing you is too EASY for someone like myself. You might say it's not SPORTING!" An amused smirk crossed his face as his peripheral vision picked up Blake Belladonna and Monica Khan leaping onto the roof, keeping their distance from the man who had once claimed the former's heart from the latter. "I just beat you in front of someone you still care for," he then added, pointing towards the raven-haired feline therianthrope huntsman nearby, making Adam's good eye widen in shock. "Besides, it's a point of propriety among natives of Yiziba, even adopted ones like myself."

The smile then turned ghoulish. "You're _**Blake's**_ fight scene. Not mine."

As Adam jolted before he sent a pleading look towards his old lover — getting only a head turned away in answer — the native of Queens added, "So you'll _**live**_. You'll live knowing you LOST to me today. I know you won't tell Salem or any of that death cheater's friends like Miss Fall or her pals. You're too damned PRIDEFUL for that." With that, he turned to head over to where Blake and Monica stood. "Know this, Adam Taurus: It will never be ME that will stop your dreams of _**genocide**_. It'll be Miss Belladonna here...along with the one whose arm you took last night within the confines of Beacon!"

After taking a step, he looked back. "I'll ensure that."

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

Then...

A weak yet deep chuckle answered the Wise Lone Sage. "Them...?" Adam demanded as he got back to his feet, shaking his head. "Don't bet on it, Isaac! Do you really think you can help a COWARD and a woman whose WILL was shattered by my blade last night to defeat ME?!"

He smirked on seeing Blake instinctively cringe from that sneered comment...before his good eye widened in outrage as the niece of his current leader moved to comfort her, she sending a warning look his way. "Think of what just happened to Miss Politan, Adam," Isaac then commented. "Master Leno — you'll remember him as the man your people couldn't come close to _**touching**_ — isn't the only one on Yiziba who can access the greatest power in the known UNIVERSE! By the time I'm finished with Blake and Yáng — and Weiss and Ruby as well — they'll be so insanely strong, there's no hope at all that Madame Salem will ever sink this planet into misery as she's done over the last two millennia! You better pray that when that fight scene comes, friend, they'll be as merciful as _**I**_ was today!"

He then turned fully away. "Otherwise...you are already _**dead**_."

Adam gargled...

...before the nearby roof suddenly transformed into a slender teenage woman with clearly reptilian skin features. As Isaac smirked knowingly, Blake and Monica gasped in stunned recognition. "_**ILIA?!**_"

Instantly, the newcomer snared the staggering Adam, then dropped several spheroid devices on the roof between herself and the Wise Lone Sage. All of them suddenly exploded in balls of blinding light, causing Blake and Monica to shriek as they spun away; Isaac's only response was to raise his cape as his own goggles automatically shaded over to protect his eyes. After a moment, the effects of the flash grenades faded, allowing the native of Queens to do a cursory scan of his immediate environs. Noting that Ilia Amitola — he had learned of the chameleonic therianthrope from Menagerie in earlier examinations of local data banks — had been able to get her wounded leader to a nearby Bullhead to escape Vale altogether, he sighed. "Well, now that that's over with, let's make sure about the others."

Hearing that, Monica perked. "You're just letting him go?!"

"Relax, Monica," Isaac stated as he beckoned both her and Blake to follow so they could rejoin the others. "His pride has been hurt way worse than any physical wounds I delivered to him just now. His worldview's been badly shaken up. He's always seen himself as being on top of the world, even above someone like Salem. Now I've blown holes in that large enough to sail a starship through." He then gave Blake a knowing look. "And I hope the chance comes that you and Yáng DO show mercy at the end, Blake. There's nothing worse than punishing a fanatic like him by making him watch as the society he wants to turn on its head moves on to the point where your father's dream of equality between humans and Faunus comes true. That will hurt someone like Adam most of all."

"It'll be a long fight," Blake warned.

"Yes. And an INTERESTING one, too!" he affirmed with a wink.

Both natives stopped as they stared askance at him, then Monica shook her head, putting her fists to her hips as her tail whipped around in annoyance at such a weird shift of attitude. "You want to know something, Isaac?! You Yizibajohei are just plain STRANGE!"

"Of COURSE we are, Miss Khan! Being normal is...!"

Here, he made a face as if he had smelled something vile. Blake and Monica stared at him before both of them snorted, trying to fight back the laughter that surged up in answer to THAT comment.

Finally, it was just too much for them.

As delighted and relieved laughter echoed over the industrial sectors of Vale City, the three new friends leapt to the lane below, then headed off to join their friends...

* * *

_**In reliquisynchronous orbit at the meridian of Vale city, aboard the Free Planetary State of Yiziba Starship **_**Normandy**_**, lunchtime...**_

"_**SAL-U-TA-TIONS!**_"

Hearing that cheerful and quite ear-jarring greeting, the small group of huntsmen who had been relaxing in one of the main lounges on the _Normandy_ which possessed a picture window displaying their homeworld and its partially-shattered moon gaped, then they spun around...

"_**PENNY!**_"

Penny Polendina gasped in understandable surprise as both Weiss Schnee and Blake Belladonna nearly speared her with their joyous hugs, their colliding with her sending them and the once-gynoid from Atlas flat onto the deck as the members of Team RWBY present nearly squeezed the air out of her lungs in delight. As the two natural-born huntsmen from Atlas whooped on seeing their adopted countrywoman quite alive and well, the others in the lounge applauded...then all the alumni of the Beacon Academy, even Weiss and Blake, gasped in disbelief on seeing the OTHER "victim" of last night's battle walk into the room, cheeks red in embarrassment as she tried to discretely cover herself given how form-fitting her new jumpsuit was. "_**PYRRHA!**_" Coco Adel screamed out.

Pyrrha Nikos awked as her tall peer nearly sent the Mistralite into a bulkhead with her own hug. Before the would-be Fall Maiden could say anything, they were immediately joined by a laughing Velvet Scarlatina, then Blake and Weiss. As the still-normal huntsmen fired concerned questions at the would-be Fall Maiden, Penny smiled before she rolled on her back before somersaulting back to her feet; unlike her fellow "dead" Vytal Festival participant, the Atlesian wasn't the least bit embarrassed by her new mode of dress. "Hey, Penny! Are you still combat ready?!" Flynt Coal wondered.

Green eyes brightened for a second. "Of course, Flynt...!"

People then blinked as Penny's voice trailed off for a second while a confused look crossed her face, she looking nowhere in particular. "Are you okay, Penny?" Blake wondered as she came over to squeeze the shoulders of her team leader's beloved friend.

The Atlesian blinked several times before she sighed, her head drooping. "No, I am not combat ready, Blake Belladonna," she then declared in a forlorn voice. "I may now be a battle doll as Lady Ayumu so arranged when she came to Remnant from Earth last night to assist Isaac Thomas in rescuing both Pyrrha Nikos and I, but I am not properly Gifted, so I am clearly not ready in the Yizibajohei sense to engage in battle. Therefore, I cannot say I am combat ready as I was when I was simply a gynoid."

"'Gynoid'?" Neon Katt wondered.

"From the Terran language known as Greek, Neon; that is one of the most classic of languages on Earth." As the people who had attended Beacon for a while nodded on noting that the once-gynoid had addressed her fellow countrywoman without family name as she normally did, Penny added, "It is based on a combination of the words _guné_ (meaning 'woman') and _eidés_ (meaning 'likeness'). It is a term that Isaac Thomas introduced to me last night before my bout with Pyrrha Nikos. I find that a far more satisfying term to use to describe what I once was than 'artificial person' or 'synthetic person'."

"Even though technically, both Penny and I are now synthezoids."

Eyes locked on Pyrrha. "Did it hurt?!" Velvet wondered.

The Mistralite huntress shook her head as she reached over to scratch her schoolmate's head between her upper set of ears, making the leporid therianthrope shudder in delight at such an act of friendship. "It really doesn't feel much different than what I felt like when I was in my old body. I still feel my aura and semblance capabilities within me...even if something else is also starting to probe inside my body. Yomi told me that's the sentience of the Great Crystal of Power starting to analyze my aura, which will allow various Gift seeds to seek me out to permit a perfect match before I'm Gifted."

Confused looks answered her...

"Pyrrha-san, you need to explain some things first!"

Hearing that slightly scolding voice from the Bright Genius of the Young Guns, Penny beamed. "Hello, Chiyo. I have yet to sense a Gift that would merge well with my own aura," the Atlesian then sadly reported as the nominal leader of the Azuma Gang came into the room, making the native Faunus all shudder as they once again felt themselves emotionally overwhelmed at the presence of such a cute girl while the human ones just smiled in greeting. "How long does this process last?"

The native of Itabashi hummed as she walked over to a nearby replicator unit to start creating snacks for everyone. "Well, it depends on what your inner soul would desire, Penny-san. And yes, you DO have a soul, so don't worry about people here who might turn around and say you're like one of the Grimm." As the native Remnantians winced at such an observation, Chiyo smiled as a good-sized pile of danishes appeared. "Ah! Dekimashita!" she called out before moving to place the plate on the table before going over to make another while people took their seats. "It can happen almost instantly. It can take time. One person I know of, Cordelia Chase-san, was pre-Gifted some years ago and she still hasn't found the right sort of Gift for her to take. Good thing she's protected by her friends in Sunnydale; that place is even WORSE than some places here on Remnant!"

"I thought you Terrans didn't have Grimm," Sūn Wùkōng noted before biting on a danish.

"No, we don't have Grimm, Sūn-san. What we do have in many places all over the planet are interdimensional invaders from pocket dimensions that are closely connected to our own who are normally addressed as 'devils' or 'demons' by most people on Earth," she noted. "Sunnydale is a place in America where there's an interdimensional nexus that allows these invaders to come into our dimension proper, often to cause trouble. Fortunately, there are a whole group of Gifted people there and in nearby Sweet Valley that can handle them. Cordelia-san is affiliated to the group in Sunnydale; they call themselves the 'Scooby Gang' after an old American anime series that's very popular."

"How many nations are on your planet?" Neptune Vasilias asked.

She smiled. "Oh, there are lots!" she noted as she brought over the second plate of danishes. She then tapped a control on the table between everyone to allow a hologram of Earth to appear before the Remnantians. "This is Earth," she announced before pointing at one archipelago off the eastern coast of the largest continental mass. "This is Nihon; 'Japan' in English. I come from here, as does Hinako-chan, Ōsaka-..." She caught herself. "I mean Ayumu-san, Yomi-san and Tomo-chan..."

"_**DAMN IT, ŌSAKA! JUST BE ŌSAKA!**_"

Everyone jolted, then Pyrrha sighed. "What a maniac...!"

"Who the hell was that?!" Flynt wondered.

Penny leaned over to whisper, "A very silly person, Flynt."

"Is that the name of the One Above the Gods?" Neon wondered.

"Hai, Neon-san. Her proper name is Kasuga Ayumu; in Japan, the family name comes first. Everyone nicknames her 'Ōsaka' because she lived in the city of the same name before she moved to Tōkyō last spring and joined us in our school." Here, the Bright Genius pointed out the two largest cities in Japan.

"That's quite the writing script you people use," Sage Ayana noted; both city names had been displayed in both the Latin-like script used on Remnant as well as the proper kanji.

"It's one of three forms of writing we constantly use in Japan, Sage-san," Chiyo noted. "Anyhow, here's the United States of America; most people call it 'America', the 'US' or the 'States'. This is where Isaac-san, Margo-san, Roman-san and Seth-san come from," she explained as the globe twirled around to display the most powerful nation of Earth as a flashing icon to the people looking at this. "Isaac-san comes from New York City here. Margo-san currently lives in Savannah down here. Roman-san is from Pensacola here. And Seth-san hails from Buffalo here." She indicated the locations in question.

"How many people live on Earth now?" Coco wondered.

"Oh, it's over seven billion people now, Coco-san."

Jaws dropped as that number sank into people's minds. "How in Oum's Name do you _**feed**_ them all?!" Blake demanded, her eyes nearly popping out of her head in disbelief. "The landmass of Earth is almost the same as Remnant, but we've only got a fraction of those numbers in all the known kingdoms..."

A tired sigh escaped Chiyo. "With much difficulty depending on which country you're living in, Blake-san. Earth isn't a fully equal place technologically or socially. Hopefully, our presence there will change things, but you don't want to force such changes too fast. If you did that, wars result."

"And given how alien races close to us have taken considerable interest in Earth, that's not a smart thing to do," a strange voice then hailed, making people look up as the master of the _Normandy_ came into the room, accompanied by the current leader of Atlas' military forces plus the headmaster of the Beacon Academy and two of his teachers. "I trust everyone's recovered from what happened?"

"What happened to Miss Politan, Isaac?" Monica Khan wondered as people moved to relax themselves. Once they had boarded the ship, the young huntsmen had come to the same lounge she and her friends had been occupying. That had made for a couple tense moments before her former lover had cleared the air with her peers, then everyone got to talk about what had happened over the last day.

Isaac Thomas took his seat. "She's gone now to gather some of her personal possessions and clear out of Vale City for the time being. She didn't tell me where she was going to now," the Wise Lone Sage announced as Shannon Ozpin and James Ironwood sat to his left while Glynda Goodwitch and Qrow Branwen sat to his right. "As to what she will do, that's ultimately up to her. Fortunately for him, Leno won't force Neo to join up with him or follow a specific path from now on; despite his insistence on ensuring a balance remains between faces and heels, he doesn't try to enslave people."

"I believe that needs to be explained first, Isaac," the headmaster of Beacon warned.

"True, Professor. True," the native of Queens noted. "Okay, ladies and gentlemen, this is the first class of 'Yiziba 101'. That number is often used in higher schools on Earth to denote an introductory course of study." As his audience tensed, he reached for the table to tap a control to draw up a new hologram. "Let's start with Professor Ozpin's suggestion and explain face/heel/neutral social divisions..."

* * *

_**That moment in downtown Manhattan (local time: Two hours before lunch)...**_

A tired sigh escaped the middle-aged red-haired woman now standing in the middle of the main examination space used by the American magical research group at the headquarters of the Department of Magic, she trying to keep a firm handle on the wild levels of magic that she had trained herself for over a CENTURY to master. "N'júton Artemísovich, if this is meant to be a joke, my comrades and I do NOT find it the least bit _**amusing**_," the woman known throughout the world as the "Bloody Siberian She-Bear" nearly growled out as she glared at Newt Scamander.

A tired sigh answered the famous farmer's daughter from near Múrom east of Moskvá from the magical zoologist from Devonshire. "Do I look like I would _**joke**_ about something as awful as THIS, Svetlána Il'ínichna?" he weakly answered as his eyes misted over before he moved to wipe his face down, then he glared at the crystal of mesonium that was holding the remnants of a Remnantian king taijitu. "In all my years of tracking down and researching magical creatures, I NEVER thought I would run into ANY sort of living remnant of the Great Expulsion that survived to this day..." A wry smile crossed his face as he gazed on his current host. "Until I got the chance to travel to another PLANET, of course!"

"Bózhe moj, man! Are you saying that a whole PLANET is being overwhelmed by...?!" Here, Professor Vladisláv Konstantínovich Kuznetsóv paused as his own skin turned especially grey before he focused on the cursed thing that had been brought by both Scamander and his American colleague to Earth from Remnant. "What type of mad bljad' is playing around with the descendants of...of...of THEM?!"

A hand came down to grasp that of her former subordinate; back during the Wars of Liberation, then-Lieutenant Colonel V.K. Kuznetsóv commanded the battalion of curse-breakers and warders that helped the Moskvá Mágicheskie Front successfully fight their war of near-annihilation against Gellert Grindelwald's Magische Reichsarmee for the future of magicals and normals in an age where a third group of humans were rising to make their own long-lasting impact on mankind. "Calm down, Sláva! You know N'júsha wouldn't bring something like THIS to our attention just as a mere _**prank**_!"

The experienced curse-breaker and ward master stared at his old front commander and now minister emeritus of Russia's magical government, then he sighed. "Yes, my Marshal, you're right," he affirmed as he gently patted the hand of Svetlána Il'ínichna Múrometsa before he gave Scamander an apologetic look. "My deepest apologies, N'júton Artemísovich. It's just that..." Here, he scowled as he fought down the urge to draw his wand and blast that crystal with its dark contents into nothingness. "To confront remnants of the beings that the Wise Ones nearly killed themselves to forever remove from the Svjaschénnoe Tsárstvo Imperátora Túndry during that hideous time before Vladímir Rússalovich Taychéshko and his friend removed those mezhzvjózdnye mónstry from our planet...!"

"I feel the same way, Vladisláv Konstantínovich," Scamander declared.

As the party who had come from the Ministry of Magical Affairs in Sankt-Peterbúrg nodded in approval — those who were old enough like Múrometsa and Kuznetsóv to remember Scamander's visit to the Soviet Union in the early 1930s all knew that the quirky Englishman had done far MUCH more than just catalogue magical creatures in the Ródina — Peter Candlewick took a deep breath. "Still, this doesn't answer the big question we now face. A whole PLANET is being plagued by these Grimm and whoever is controlling them. If what Professor Kuznetsóv just confirmed is true, these things ARE the literal descendants of the _**alconóst**_." The whole room seemed to chill a dozen degrees on his saying that one word. "If Isaac's plan to help the people of that planet — who ARE our distant cousins thanks to the Ancients! — is to succeed, we need to give him a sure-fire way to eliminate these things wholesale."

"Tat'jána Andrévna Chapáeva speaks very highly of Isaák Fomích Tómas," Múrometsa declared. As her countrymen looked expectantly at her, the woman who had been the TRUE threat to Grindelwald during the Wars of Liberation took a deep breath. "We will need to consult with our wise comrades. They may bring news of this to Comrade Túndra, most likely. As to what HIS reaction will be...!"

Shudders ran through everyone there regardless of nationality. Magicals had long known of the oldest of the Great Old Ones whose overall spiritual domain literally covered the whole Arctic region of Earth. Encounters between Túndra and magical researchers and explorers who had ventured into those frozen wastes from Eurasia and North America had been well documented over the centuries. Through them, it had been learned that the three million year-old nature spirit tended to respect more those who were directly touched by the Atom of True Life such as the Undying Lord of Rügen and the Praetorian Guardian of Old Rjazán', which could be found in considerable quantities in both Canada and Russia. During the dark years leading to the Great Banishment twenty-five millennia before, the ancestors of the modern gamájun in the cold steppes of Siberia had taken advantage of that, winning Túndra's everlasting protecting and helping them overcome and annihilate the alconóst...

Or so people had believed until now.

Considering what the reaction from Earth's oldest sentient being could be like once it learned of the descendants of the accursed alconóst living many ages after Túndra had demanded their complete extermination, even a hardened warrior like Svetlána Múrometsa found herself shuddering in fear. Much that the Bloody Siberian She-Bear who had been the lethal bane of old imperial Russian purebloods during the early years of Iósif Vissariónovich Stálin's rule over the Soviet Union had gladly faced down even _**metahumans**_ during her campaign to help liberate Europe from Gellert Grindelwald's and Adolf Hitler's dark grasps, she cared NOT to face the likes of the Ancient Emperor of Ice...!

"You won't need to bug the Major about that, General."

Hearing that from the reborn living spirit of America's first nuclear surface warship, Múrometsa gazed over. "What does that mean, Naómi Evgén'evna?" the veteran of the magical side of the Russian Revolution and the Second World War asked, referring to Naomi Haight-Ashbury with her chosen given name and the patronymic based on the given name of the first captain of USS _Long Beach_, retired Vice-Admiral Eugene Parks Wilkinson from Naomi's namesake city in California.

"Now that I'm able to tune into the songs of Mother Gaia and Father Vólos..." — her mentioning the name of the old Slavic god of the earth earned the transformed missile cruiser a smile of approval from Múrometsa and several of her friends — "...there's something way up in the steppes somewhere that the beautiful wise ones..." — that was Naomi's nickname for the gamájun, everyone automatically knew — "...often use when they want to avoid the pigs that want to turn them into bed warmers!"

"You mean the supposed 'gamájun redoubt' that's said to be there, Mama Cass?" Candlewick asked.

"Yeah, Pete!" Here, the adopted native of Long Beach and Quincy then blinked. "S'funny...!"

"What is it, Naósha?" Múrometsa asked.

A curious look crossed Naomi's face. "It reminds me of Little Snowfall and her sisters..."

People blinked at that observation...

_**To Be Continued...!**_

* * *

**WRITER'S NOTES**

What happened to **Steve Austin** is first noted on in Part Four of the main story.

The multi-dimensional "Magical Quest" that **Hirosaki Chikage** (**Dragonheart**) engaged in over the past few years was first noted on in various places in the main story; this is a recurring theme in several of Fred's stories using this character. Her maternal grandfather **Hirosaki Ryūji** (who was first introduced in Fred's _Illusions_ series) engaged in a similar quest in the 1930s before the Second World War/Wars of Liberation. An example of what happened can be seen in Fred's _Icemaidens_ series. It was noted in _The Icemaidens and the Philosopher's Stone_ that Ryūji made use of ebony-pattern mesonium to aid in his dimensional jumps. It was because of that, as noted above, that both **Qui-Gon Jinn** and **Maul** of Dathomir (AKA **Darth Maul**) were able to ultimately survive their deaths as shown in the canonically first Star Wars movie, _The Phantom Menace_; this, of course, negates what was shown to have happened to Maul in the more recent _The Clone Wars_ or _Rebels_ televisions series.

Translation list: **Ti'ibie** — Yizibajohei version of wrestling kayfabe; **Chocolate City** — Nickname for **Washington D.C.**; **Bózhe moj** — God help us; **Bljad'** — Whore; **Moskvá Mágicheskie Front** — Moscow Magical Front (a **front** is the equivalent of an army group in the West); **Magische Reichsarmee** — Imperial Magical Army; **Svjaschénnoe Tsárstvo Imperátora Túndry** — Sacred Realm of Emperor Túndra; **Mezhzvjózdnye mónstry** — Interstellar monsters.

**Ilia Amitola** first appeared in the _RWBY_ episode "A Much Needed Talk" (fourth volume, eighth episode).

The name of **Newt Scamander**'s father is not known; the use of one of his middle names "Artemis" for his father is Fred's choice.

**Svetlána Múrometsa** first appeared in the third _Wizards and Avalonians_ side stories to Fred's _Phoenix From the Ashes_; her back story is better described in _Magic and Canada_. **Vladímir Taychéshko** (**Lord Rjazán'**) first appeared in Fred's _Wanderers_; his own back story is also better explained in **Magic and Canada**. **Tat'jána Chapáeva** (the **Philosopher**) first appeared in Part Eight of the main story.


	6. The Seventh Carrier's New Destiny

**DISCLAIMER: Concurrent with fair dealing clauses of the **_**Copyright Act **_**(R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42) of Canada and fair use clauses in copyright legislation in other nations, this is a work that was created solely for entertainment purposes. Furthermore, it is posted freely on the Internet without expectation or requirement of remuneration.**

* * *

_**In reliquisynchronous orbit at the meridian of Vale City, aboard the Free Planetary State of Yiziba Starship **_**Normandy**_**, two hours after lunch (Tōkyō time: Tuesday morning, an hour after midnight; New York time: Monday, lunchtime; London time: Monday, an hour before supper)...**_

"Man! Didn't realize how hungry I was! This is great!"

"Did you cook all this, Miss Chiyo?!"

Hearing that question from the only Faunus member of Team CFVY, the Bright Genius of the Young Guns blushed. She was seated with the Living Spirit of Innocence, the Spectral Hound of the Dark Gaol and the Assassin of Dynasties — not to mention living warship spirits representing six of Japan's Fubuki-class destroyers from Earth's interwar years — at one set of tables in the cafeteria, with Velvet Scarlatina and the others occupying a nearby table. "Most of the food was created by the replicators, Velvet-san," Mihama Chiyo answered. "I did make the pastries and the cakes. It's not as good as what someone like Osamu Shirayuki-san or Aria des Beauchamps-san can do, but my friends like it."

"They're not the only ones who do!" Flynt Coal noted from nearby; he and his partner from Team FNKI were seated with their two countrymen at another table, along with the Master of Plants and Weiss Schnee. Both the current commander of Atlas' military and the young heiress of the Schnee family fortune had been busy speaking to Neville Longbottom about the types of plants which could be imported from Yiziba that could survive in Solitas' near-Arctic climate. Especially of interest to the Atlesians were those species which could do what the British wizard's mist dandelions did to Vale City, thus denying the Grimm native to Remnant's northern continent a VAST area of habitat and allow people from Atlas to settle new villages in the once-inhospitable countryside.

"Who are Shirayuki and Aria?" Blake Belladonna wondered from a table being shared between her, her first lover and her friends who once served in the White Fang.

"Shirayuki-chan is _**Küchenchefin**_, Blake-san," Saeru Hinako answered as she held up a finger in emphasis. "She can create food from anything else. So can Aria-chan; she's _**Douceâtre**_!"

"On Earth, that sort of power is called 'trofikinesis'," Seth Rollins added as the native Remnantians gaped at the idea of people having THAT capability. "Believe me, people like Shirayuki and Aria were lifesavers during the Starvation Times as the past-selves of folks like Isaac here worked overtime to repair all the damage from the Dawn of Power and make Yiziba inhabitable again."

Eyes locked on the Wise Lone Sage, who was sharing a table with the senior staff of the Beacon Academy save for Glynda Goodwitch; the senior teacher had gone down to the grounds to check up with co-workers concerning the final damage assessment from the previous night's activities. "I cannot for an instant imagine what your first-selves went through back then," Neptune Vasilias noted with a shake of his head. The members of Team SSSN and the lone member of Team JNPR who "died" during the "fall of Beacon" were sharing a table close to where Isaac Thomas and his main guests were seated. "I mean, a worldwide population dropping from two billion to _**six hundred million**_ in the space of TWENTY YEARS?! I don't think any war on Remnant could come CLOSE to something like that!"

"Professor?" Blake wondered as she gazed on her headmaster.

Eyes locked on Shannon Ozpin, who moved to adjust his glasses. "No," the effectively immortal senior huntsman breathed out. "No, Miss Belladonna, we here on Remnant have NEVER endured the level of destruction Yiziba endured back then. When I asked Ayono about what made the people of his world do what they did, he was quite...quiet about it. Not surprising given what Isaac just told us."

Grim nods all around as people relaxed in their chairs. "So what's the plan now?" Qrow Branwen then wondered as he crossed his arms. After the "Yiziba 101" lesson, the former bandit from Anima had to finally admit to himself that the Terran-turned-Yizibajohei polymath was really on the level; given the instincts he developed over the years as a huntsman and a teacher coupled to a rather rough childhood, he didn't need some fancy Aura ability to read minds to understand that Isaac was on the level.

And it was really about time...!

The native of Queens sighed as he sat back in his chair, reaching up to rub the bridge of his nose. "Right now, the best thing to do is to relax and help Vale recover fully from last night. I'm sure we can get Beacon going again within a couple months, but that depends on what Professor Goodwitch and the others find out. I'm sure that in a very short while, that wyvern on the CCT tower will be melted away thanks to what Neville brought here and Ayumu so nicely spread around town like she did."

"Thank Oum for that!" Weiss moaned. "That has to be the GAUDIEST thing I've ever seen."

Jaws dropped as people gazed on the normally stoic Atlesian, then laughter filled the cafeteria from all the natives. "Oh, ye Fates, she actually has a sense of _**humour**_?!" Blake sarcastically wondered as Monica Khan's tail whipped around to and fro in a visible sign of amusement.

More laughter responded as Weiss sent her teammate an annoyed look. "How soon will Miss Rose be back on her feet, Qrow?" Ozpin asked.

"Before we came up here, Tàiyáng told me she's sleeping. The scanners we have in the first aid kit that we keep at the house show there's no internal injuries," the former member of Team STRQ responded as he moved to sip his tea, a part of him wondering why he wasn't feeling any urge to get some good booze into his body and drink this madness away. "Yáng's keeping an eye on her." He then shook his head. "I still don't like this idea of keeping Ruby in the dark about things, especially about Penny and Pyrrha surviving last night. Much that I'm glad she's got the Silver Eyes..."

"Isaac's staff showed me some of the possible futures that could have stemmed from this event as shown to him by Miss Suzumiya," Ozpin noted, shaking his head in sad acceptance. "Like it or not, even with the CCT system currently down, there is a chance that Salem will be keeping a weather eye on Vale while she directs Miss Fall and the others to track your niece down and eliminate her. While I'm sure that both you and the members of Miss Nikos' team who will go with her to the Haven Academy will do your best to keep her safe — and we do have the option of what Isaac can bring to bear — we NEED Miss Rose as a sort of distraction while things for her team progress as planned."

Forlorn looks crossed the faces of Ruby Rose's and Yáng Xiǎo Lóng's teammates as they considered what lay in store for them. "Well, the sooner Yáng can get her right arm back, the better," Blake noted. "Is there some way to disguise a regrown arm from Ruby before the time's right, Isaac?"

"Child's play," the Wise Lone Sage noted.

"You're going along with this?!" Weiss demanded.

"I don't like this at all, but there obviously isn't much choice anymore, Weiss," the former member of the White Fang warned while her old lover gripped her hand. As her other old co-workers grimly nodded, the daughter of that movement's founder added, "Ruby's power is a sword that can be punched right into the heart of the Queen of Darkness itself. She needs the right sort of impetus to learn how to fully master that ability. Being Gifted will help, but for the sake of EVERYONE on Remnant, we can't afford to reveal the game THIS early in the match." She then gave her Atlesian friend a knowing look. "And you have to admit, Weiss, Ruby does have something of a naïve way of looking at things."

The young industrial empire heiress blinked before she reluctantly nodded. "Yes, that's true, isn't it? I mean, she really means well, but she doesn't have the experiences you or I have. Things are far too black and white for her." She then gazed on the former gynoid that had befriended their team leader sometime ago. "Like it or not, Penny, you didn't help her even if you did become her friend."

That made the adopted Atlesian's eyes widen. "I didn't mean..."

"It's not that!" Weiss noted. "Much that I'm grateful that you did become her friend and you were honest to her from the start about what you are, you didn't seem to contradict her when it came to certain things, especially with the way things can really turn south for people. You're from Atlas, same as I am. I know your creator, too! Didn't he show you how nasty things could get?"

"He did," Penny automatically answered before she sighed. "Still, Ruby was my first true friend. I did not wish to hurt her by revealing how dangerous things can be in our society. As I'm sure both you and Blake Belladonna are well aware, her determination to do her best is quite overwhelming at times."

The members of Team RWBY blinked as they considered that before they nodded in understanding. "How can we make things easier for Miss Rose and her friends in the long term, Isaac?" James Ironwood wondered as he gazed on their host. "Much that they have advantages..."

"They have their disadvantages as well," Isaac finished for him, which made everyone grin as they remembered how easily the native of Queens had guessed what Adam Taurus was about to say during their vigorous bout in Vale's industrial district a few hours before. He gazed on Qrow. "I can think of some things that could counter your bad luck semblance if necessary, Qrow. When I viewed the potential future events thanks to Haruhi, I noted that there were issues on that trip to Haven...to say anything of what could happen once Headmaster Lionheart gets involved."

Scowls crossed people's faces on remembering what the Wise Lone Sage warned about how Leonardo Lionheart had come to betray his friends and sold himself out to the Queen of Darkness. "Hopefully, Ruby will be Gifted by then," Blake mused, looking at the deckhead.

"We'll all be Gifted by then," Weiss vowed.

"What of your father?" Neon Katt asked.

"What about him?!" the young heiress sneered. "Thanks to what Seth did to him when he tried to slap me, he'll be spending time recuperating from nearly having his head blown off."

"Still, I'd rather you head back to Atlas, Weiss."

Eyes locked on Isaac as Ironwood nodded. "Why?!" Weiss demanded.

"Much that I don't like your father on general principle, it would make things easier if I can find a way to make him agree for you to become my apprentice," the native of Queens noted. "I don't want to antagonize him. Given how well-connected his businesses are all over the planet, it would cause a massive monkey wrench to be tossed into the works if I have SDC stand against Renaissance Industries." He then smirked as he sipped his tea. "Especially with ONE project I have in mind."

"What's that?" Ken Tukson wondered.

"Didn't your sister tell you, Ken? I have people researching ways to create synthetic Dust."

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

Then...

"Are you SERIOUS?!" Ironwood demanded.

Fighting the automatic urge to state that such was the name of the godfather to Neville's fellow magical-turned-metahuman Rose Potter — which was a joke only his fellow Terran-borns would truly understand — Isaac smirked. "You have to admit, it's a wise idea in the long term. The technology I'm bringing in that doesn't work on Dust is something that will take a LONG time for natives to adjust to. It's simply better in the end to work with local technology than to just supplant it altogether, especially in case those forces — like Weiss' father — who won't like what I'm bringing to the table try to throw up roadblocks just to preserve their own grasp on power." He then shrugged. "Atop that, we have people such as Coco here who have semblances that require Dust to be properly used." Here, he toasted the leader of Team CFVY with his cup, earning him a thankful blush in return.

"Yes, that is true," Ozpin mused.

"What of your work in manufacturing synthetic Dust, Isaac-san?" Chiyo asked.

A wry grin responded. "Unfortunately, Chiyo-chan, all I've been able to create at the moment are a metric tonne of EXPLOSIONS!" the master of the _Normandy_ wryly answered, which made all the natives wince in sympathy. "Still, a breath-through is near; I can FEEL it! Of course, if you want to join in..."

He gave the genius from Itabashi a knowing look. "Of course I can help," Chiyo asserted. "Schoolwork isn't that much an issue, especially with the Doll House being available as a safe place to do research."

"Will Lady Ayumu allow that, Chiyo?" Penny asked.

"Of course she will, Penny-san!" the Bright Genius of the Young Guns asserted, earning her admiring stares from the Fukushima sisters. "Besides, whatever Dust is, it has to have some sort of naquadah base to it if the _**Ori**_ of all the races in the Universe were involved with Remnant in the past! It's better to analyze that stuff in the Doll House than in my laboratory on Earth!"

"Couldn't Elizabeth-san and Tánja-san help, Isaac-san?" Fukushima Fujiko asked.

The Wise Lone Sage blinked, then he did a check on the holographic screen before him. "Since it's Easter Monday on Earth, I might as well ask," he mused as he tapped a control to open a signal.

A moment later, the image of a stunning teenager with blue-green eyes and the most perfect honey blonde hair any native of Remnant had EVER seen appeared; seeing her earned the lawyer's daughter from an old fish canning town near Los Angeles admiring looks from the women while the men — even people like Qrow Branwen and James Ironwood, who could easily be her FATHER! — found themselves thanking Oum that they were indeed men! "Hey, stranger!" Elizabeth Wakefield called out from her basement laboratory in Sweet Valley. "Heard you had quite the bit of fun on Remnant recently."

"Hey, yourself, Liz!" Isaac called back before sipping his drink. "How much have you been keeping track of what I've been doing with Renaissance Industries here on Remnant?"

As the natives blinked in surprise at how easily the native of Queens trusted his counterpart from Sweet Valley in this manner, the current incarnation of the Wise Genius of the Circle of Thought smirked as she crossed her arms, relaxing in her chair. "Well, there are things I can propose for replacement systems for this CCTS network they've got on that planet to get around the Grimm. I'll send you what I've devised on my spare time soon enough. Tánja's working on some weapons upgrades for your Robot Masters and other equipment you can use against those Grimm. Joe, if you're there..."

"Yo!" Roman Leakee called out from beside Seth.

"Good! Come by the Valley when you can so I can get your opinion about these things to devise ways to permanently remove them from Remnant's biosphere!" Here, Elizabeth sighed before she gave Isaac a knowing look. "Much that I hate to say this to you, Isaac, you've caused quite the _**shitstorm**_ here on Earth with what you had Naomi bring back from Remnant a couple hours ago."

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

Then...

"Liz, you never _**swear**_!" the native of Queens exclaimed as he tried to pull up his jaw from his knees while Chiyo got up to move to stand beside him, allowing her to come into Elizabeth's camera range. "Much that I know the things here are the descendants of the alconóst that the gamájun once fought...!"

"Elizavéta Èduárdovna, Isaák Fomích doesn't really understand how much of an impact such a discovery has made here," a strange voice then cut in before the image before Isaac split in two, revealing the face of a woman with stormy grey eyes and wavy brown hair framing a very pretty face on the same scale as that of her counterpart from America. "Stop berating the poor man."

Isaac shook his head. "Hello, Tánja! Do I need to avoid Sankt-Peterbúrg for the next year or so?"

A roaring laugh answered him from the native of Výborg who was now the Passionate Historian of the Circle of Thought. "Oh, if it was only THAT easy, továrisch!" Tat'jána Andrévna Chapáeva warned as she gave him a knowing look from her laboratory in the basement levels of her family home in the former Finnish city near the old Russian imperial capital. "That sample Akadémik Skamánder brought from where you're at so people at the MMD could look at it caused quite the firestorm in Russia, my friend. Some of Dvojúrodnaja Bábushka's comrades from the time of the kuláki purges during the early years of Iósif Vissariónovich's reign are screaming to friends in the Volshébnaja Dúma to have the Moskvá Front mobilized and launch a PURGE on Rémnant to remove these alconóst from the planet!"

"I take it such is a bad idea, Miss Chapáeva," Ozpin mused.

"Da, Akadémik Ózpin. On the same scale as what unleashing your good friend's army on your current home city is. On your planet...but especially here on Earth as well." As both the Undying Warrior Sage and his friend who commanded Atlas' army winced, Tánja added, "I'm not sure how much Isaák Fomích has told you about our magical enclaves and how they relate to each other, but since Névill Fránklinovich is there with your now, ask him. He understands the issue much better."

Eyes locked on the Master of Plants, who nodded in understanding. "How soon could the gamájun reply on what was discovered?" Isaac asked. "Yes, they have the right to be involved in this — as would Túndra himself, of course — but I don't want to upset too many apple carts here. These people have been fighting the Grimm for CENTURIES! They've got the automatic right to deal with them without outsiders — especially someone of Túndra's overall power — butting into the fight scene."

Eyes the grey of storms rolled in response. "That, továrisch, I can't tell you," Tánja answered. "As soon as that sample got to the MMD, the representative from the Dúma Gamájuna took it and teleported right out of the building. As to what they might decide..." A shrug rolled her shoulders.

Isaac moaned. "Oh, that's just _**wonderful**_...!"

* * *

_**Back on Earth, on the Chúkchi Sea shoreline of Siberia 150 kilometres northwest of Cape Dezhnjóva, that moment (local time: Four hours after midnight)...**_

Civil twilight had descended on the hidden deep-water bay located between the hamlets of Neshkán and Ènurmino as Pjésnja Bélogo apparated onto a landing that had been marked years before by the bay's once-normal occupiers as the safe place to teleport in before passing through the tunnels drilled in the collapsed glaciers to enter Sano Bay and proceed to the caves where what Russian magicals called the "Dúma Gamájuna" normally gathered to debate matters concerning their vast parliament. Thankful that the warriors of the Land of the Wa had been more than understanding concerning the needs of the metamorphic avians who had long considered this ice-lined bay in eastern Siberia their ultimate place of refuge from poachers who came from near and afar to seize helpless chicks for whatever dark purposes drove them, the herald of the Dúma Gamájuna to the Ministérstvo Mágicheskikh Del Rossíjskaja Federátsii walked down the well-beaten path towards where a group of human guards stood watch, they in the ubiquitous green jumpsuits that was standard dress of the day for the crew of the greatest of Imperial Japan's warships, they gazing intently out to sea as they waited for the morning fishing expedition to return from the fertile grounds near the Bering Strait.

One blinked before he turned to gaze in her direction, then he straightened himself before bowing deeply to the approaching silver-haired humanoid; the herald normally displayed her long flowing wings — fully mated to the sides of her arms — and very long tail whenever she went to meet the magicals at their headquarters in distant Sankt-Peterbúrg. "Ah! You just came back, Pjésnja-sama," Seaman Third Class Fujisaki Tomohisa declared as he gazed respectfully at the winged metamorph. "I trust the people in Sankt-Peterbúrg weren't being their normal arrogant..."

His nose then flared — as did those of his companions — before look of disgusts crossed their faces. "What in the Sacred Name of Amaterasu is that SMELL?!" Tomohisa demanded as his eyes watered.

An apologetic look crossed her face. "A sign that a sacred mission demanded by Lord Túndra of us was NOT carried out as He so desired of us, Tomohisa," Pjésnja advised. "I must go meet with the Dúma."

Chills ran down the bodies of the sailors manning this checkpoint as they heard that solemn declaration. The universal reverence the true natives of Sano-wan had for Earth's oldest sentient being was at times as passionate as many of the sailors' reverence for the Kami as a whole. Knowing it was the one who had given the gamájun his protection during the Great Banishment twenty-five millennia before now known among all of Russia's magicals simply as _**Túndra**_ — naturally, applying a name to such a being seemed awfully WEAK at times — anything that offended him was seen as the lowest of heresies, requiring instant death. Given how much the metamorphic magical avians had gone out of their way to help Tomohisa's shipmates as they endured their seven decades of total and complete exile from the events of the Greater East Asia War and its aftermath, giri and ninjō demanded that everything that could be done to aide them in their devotions was done...as long as such didn't interfere in the mission demanded of them in the name of the late Heavenly Sovereign of Shōwa.

"I pray it will not come back to hurt you all, Pjésnja-sama," Tomohisa stated before bowing deeply.

Nodding her thanks, Pjésnja proceeded into the tunnel, allowing the remarkable spiritual warmth of the layers upon layers of diamond mesonium sheathing within the glaciers that had masked Sano-wan — the gamájun as a whole called the bay _**Svjetjjílische**_, their term for "sanctuary" — from the outside world to warm her. As she walked on, she then sensed another wave of warmth touch her from directly ahead, indicative of the one object — could she or anyone simply call the great vessel, many times the size of Noah's mythical Ark, that had been trapped within the bay for seven decades a mere "object" given the fighting spirit that had long begun to awaken within it? — that had served as the one surefire protection for the winged avians against the poachers for the time she had been here.

Emerging from the tunnel, the herald blinked before she smiled on seeing the diminutive man — well past the middle years of life for normal humans even if his aging process, like that of his subordinates, had been severely retarded since their entrapment within Sano-wan — standing at a levelled-off edge of the inner glacier slope, doing a normal inspection of the hull to ensure that if the glaciers DID give way finally, his flagship would be ready to go in all aspects. While having often frowned at the sheer levels of determination — even borderline _**fanaticism**_ in some cases! — the warriors of Wa showed for their aborted mission to strike at the isles of Sawaiki for many slights delivered unto their countrymen by those who now dominated those volcanic islands, the devotion those self-same warriors had shown to their great nest were like a whole parliament of nesting mothers doting over one special chick.

Given what some of the prophets had started to sense about what would soon happen to that "chick"...!

"Ah, Pjésnja-san. I trust Marshal Múrometsa is well these days?"

A smile crossed the herald's face as she moved to stand beside the would-have-been commander of Operation Z. "Grandmother Svetlána wished NOT to have brought the news I must now bring to the Dúma, Grandfather Hiroshi," she explained to her godfather; the veteran of Tsushima from Nagoya who became the TRUE father of Japanese naval aviation during the Taishō years had been there when she had been hatched over forty years ago, attended by his senior medical orderly, a man who was devout in his own ways to the teachings of Lord Buddha as his flag officer was to the great Kami of the Wa. Drawing out the crystal with the trapped beast inside — earning her a disapproving look from Fujita Hiroshi as his own nose picked up the hideous stench of rot and naquadah barely contained within — she added, "Lord Túndra's wishes were not properly fulfilled by our ancestors."

The aged and balding man with the almost-black eyes, the thin moustache and the long, tapered goatee blinked as he remembered those incredible stories of courage and sacrifice in the face of hideous odds — tales that rivalled the final actions of the Forty-Seven Rōnin during the fifteenth year of Genroku! — echoed through his mind again. His eyes then flared as it hit him. "The _**alconóst**_?!"

She nodded. "On another world many stars away, their descendants live."

His eyes sharpened. "This 'Stargate' system the Americans discovered four years ago, you mean?"

"That sad world can be reached through it. But it was one of the adopted Children of the Forge of the Tears of the Stars who had been recruited by Fate who delivered the news to the Friend of All."

_Newton Scamander-sensei_, the would-be commander of Operation Z knew. "Tell the Dúma. Any help we can render within reason is yours for the asking." He gazed at the fallen glacier which had caged them in this place for seven decades. "Much that our own mission is still of primary concern for my subordinates and I, even the most fanatic ones who flew with the Tokubetsu Kōgekitai would agree that angering the likes of the eldest of the Undying Lord's allies from back then is the height of insanity."

Pjésnja bowed, then headed around the cove to the caves where the Dúma gathered. As she went, her eyes fell on the three gold characters written in traditional right-to-left writing style on the ship's hull...

**よなが**

* * *

_**Far to the north of Sano-wan, high in the Arctic sky...**_

"Well, ain't that radical...?"

A certain transformed missile cruiser's lips curled into a smile.

"Catch you on the flip side, Big Y!"

With that, Naomi Haight-Ashbury teleported away...

* * *

_**In orbit above Remnant aboard the **_**Normandy**_**, two hours later...**_

"I still don't like this."

Hearing Weiss Schnee's flat statement, the other huntsmen students who had been welcomed aboard Isaac Thomas' starship could only grimly nod in understanding. "Much that I agree with you on that point, Weiss, I can understand where Isaac's coming from as well," Coco Adel noted before sipping her tea. "Remember what he taught us about the first generation of Yizibajohei metahumans. After what was left of their home kingdoms collapsed into total chaos, it was practically everyone for themselves. It's a miracle so many DID survive the Starvation Times in the end." She then shrugged. "I'm grateful for him wanting to help us finally put an end to the Grimm and this Salem creep. And I'm glad that he's letting us lead the charge here. Letting this Túndra thing loose on Remnant...!"

The others all winced. Isaac had been detailed when he explained what had happened in the War of the Great Banishment twenty-five millennia ago and who had been the big players there. "A creature who became sentient thanks to all the mesonium in the biosphere, eventually mastering a large swath of the northern reaches of Earth itself," Blake Belladonna breathed out in mind-boggled awe as she gazed on the sketchy biography composed by Tánja Chapáeva concerning Earth's oldest sentient being. "Even if he himself can't come to Remnant, anyone he empowers to come in his stead..."

"Yeah, Salem won't like that, I'll bet," Qrow Branwen muttered as he sipped his own cup of coffee. He was keeping watch over the young ones as they decided what they would do at this point.

"You don't seem surprised in the end about all this, Qrow," Blake noted.

The veteran huntsman snorted. "Well, I only recently learned the truth about Oz and Salem myself a month ago. Went on quite the bender after that all sank in. I never knew Oz's connection to that Kasuga kid's first-self, though." He shook his head. "Still, it really shouldn't be so surprising in the end. The whole thing about aliens and all that. The Two Brothers being one, they being part of a group that shifted our ancestors from Earth here all those years ago so they could be worshipped as gods...!"

"Not to mention their wanting to find ways to counter people like Lady Ayumu," Neon Katt added as her tail whipped warily around. "Especially this one called 'Doctor Destructo' on Yiziba. He — or she — sounds like something right out of the nightmares of the Queen of Darkness herself!"

"Oh, Hina doesn't think that about Destructo-sensei, Neon-san."

All the Faunus in the room instantly shuddered as Saeru Hinako came in, she escorted by Fukushima Mayako. "Hey, kid! You sure got back here pretty quick," Qrow noted on recognizing the shipgirl from a message Glynda Goodwitch sent him. "Was it really that bad when that Scamander guy brought that king taijitu to Earth to let the folks from Russia look it over before they call up their friends?"

The reborn fifth of the Fubuki-class destroyers snorted as she moved to make a cup of tea from a nearby kettle. "It looked like a bunch of Imperial Army officers running around with their heads cut off," the silver-haired adopted native of Ōsaka noted, her lips twisted in a sneer. Noting people's confused looks, she added, "Relations between the two armed services of my home em-..." She caught herself, realizing right away that the term "empire" wouldn't make sense to the Remnantians. "My home kingdom was never the best back in my day. The ground forces wanted to steal territories from neighbouring kingdoms to make us bigger and safer...and they got us in a war we couldn't win in the end when we ended up banging heads against the Americans, Isaac-san's people. The supreme chief of my crew's service, a man named Yamamoto Isoroku — he was the same rank as General Ironwood — warned that we couldn't last very long in a war against America. He was right."

Sympathetic looks came her way. "How many did you lose?" Flynt Coal asked.

"I had a crew of 219 officers and sailors. When I was torpedoed..." She hummed on seeing confusion cross people's faces. "A missile designed to hit a ship underwater." As the huntsmen all nodded in understanding, Mayako shrugged. "I was lucky. Shirayuki was there. I only lost twenty-two of my crew." Her chestnut eyes then misted over. "Shirayuki was bombed by an aircraft sometime later. She lost thirty-two. We were some of the lucky ones. The most powerful of us all, the _Yamato_ and _Musashi_ — if they become kantai musume as I am, they'd be Itō Yasuko and Itō Mutsuko — had nearly three thousand crew each. When they sank, only a few _**hundred**_ made it out in the end." She shook her head before making her tea. "Save for whoever the _**Ryūseizen**_ might have saved in the end."

"'Dragon-killing ships'?" Neptune Vasilias wondered, having got the meaning of that term thanks to the omniversal translation fields that were projected in every part of the _Normandy_.

Mayako smirked as she pulled out her PAA. A tap of the crystal produced the image of a sleek vessel with **ムラクモ** in white on the side of the hull. "This is me as a ship," she explained, then allowed the device in her hand to project a much bigger image. "This is _Yamato_." As the natives whistled at the sheer difference in size, a third image then appeared of a vessel a little big longer and appearing even more massive. "The one of the Ryūseizen I sensed was close by when I was torpedoed and sank."

"So what were they out there for?" Sūn Wùkōng asked.

"You know about the magicals on our planet, right? How they've strove to keep themselves hidden from normal people over the centuries?" Mayako asked. After the natives nodded, the adopted native of Ōsaka sipped her tea. "During our war with America, great dark creatures — similar to your Grimm in a way — rose from the seas to consume the souls of seamen, normally during the middle of a battle. The Ryūseizen were out there to destroy the creatures and save those sailors believed to have 'died' by the normal authorities before their souls were consumed. As to what happened to them..." Here, she shrugged. "Of my sisters, Fujiko, Hatsue and Urako are the only ones who had 'close encounters' with the Ryūseizen and had crew saved by them. No doubt, the magicals running them were able to create new identities for the 'dead' and resettle them somewhere safe. We know at least that the Ryūseizen mostly came from Canada; that's America's northern neighbour and the home of our planet's Jewel Warrior, Lieutenant General Dean Raeburn. We don't know their names..."

"Wouldn't it be awesome if they became shipgirls?!"

Everyone turned as the eldest of the Fukushima sisters came in. "That would be something," Mayako mused as Fukushima Fujiko moved to make her own tea.

"Could we build something like that?" Flynt wondered.

Eyes lit up as the possibilities dawned on people. "Yeah! We've got pretty big Grimm that live in the oceans," Sūn warned. "Might be something to ask Isaac about." He then gazed on the reborn warship spirits with them. "Doubt we could ask the Canadians to borrow their ships."

Laughter filled the room, then Fujiko looked over to see forlorn looks on both Blake's and Weiss' faces. "Are you worried about your friends?" the adopted native of Maizuru then asked as she poured her tea.

Sensing the concern from the Blizzard of Death, both women nodded. "Isn't it obvious?" Blake asked. "We want Yáng and Ruby Gifted as soon as possible. The idea of using Ruby as BAIT for Salem...!"

"You saying I can't protect my own _**niece**_?!" Qrow wondered. "Much less Jaune, Nora or Ren?"

"Of course you can, Qrow!" the daughter of the founder of the White Fang asserted as she gazed at her teammates' often amusing and equally often inebriated uncle. "But we have to keep things secret about Pyrrha and Penny, remember?! Jaune, Nora and Ren are going to be hurting, especially Jaune!" As Pyrrha Nikos stiffened, the feline therianthrope moaned. "Oh, I'm sorry, Pyrrha...!"

"Jaune does have quite the crush on you," Weiss warned.

"How far is the journey from Vale to Mistral?" Fujiko asked.

"Over a month by boat direct from Vale," Pyrrha answered. "That's just to get to the nearest ocean port to Mistral. Once landed, it's an overland trip of at least another two weeks to get to the kingdom itself."

"Knowing the kid, she might want to do overland here to where Acadia used to stand at the east end of Sanus, jump across the passage to Anima in the old territory of the Silvershield League, then head overland straight to Mistral," Qrow then warned, earning him surprised looks from the younger huntsmen. "I remember the old tales of the kingdoms that existed before the Grimm forced us all into the big cities," the veteran of Team STRQ explained, earning him understanding nods.

"Pity there aren't more of us," Mayako noted. "We could form a destroyer division and scout ahead to make sure things don't go too crazy while Ruby-san does her thing and people elsewhere get ready."

"What are your Gifts like?" Coco asked as the team leaders all perked. After hearing the members of Team SSSN crow on and on about what Fukushima Miyuki had done to that one king taijitu...!

Fujiko hummed before she sipped her tea. "We have force-blast powers that can take out ships the size of _Normandy_ if they're not shielded. We have the strength to lift the cube of our masses of warships. Over eight-and-a-half BILLION tonnes in Earth or Remnant gravity."

As the natives boggled on hearing that, Mayako wryly added, pointing up to the deckhead in emphasis, "If such a mass can stay together being boosted up by something that's human-sized, by the way."

"Hai! True, true," her sister trilled. "Outside that, plus the matching level of invulnerability, our ability to fly in all sorts of environments like space and undersea and all that, we have special powers."

"There's MORE?!" a stunned Qrow demanded.

"Hai, Sensei! You see, Shirayuki-chan, Miyuki-chan, Hatsue-chan and I are cryokinetics; that means that we can manipulate air moisture and water to make ice. A LOT of ice as Miyuki-chan did to that big thing she caught for Scamander-sensei." The adopted native of Maizuru then waved to her sister. "Mayako-chan here is a meteorkinetic; that means she can manipulate the weather as a whole. Storms, tornadoes, rain, hail, snow; you name it, she can do it. And Itsuko-chan and Urako-chan are both hydrokinetics; they can manipulate water without being able to freeze it like I could."

The natives all hummed. "Those are all roughly similar capabilities," Penny Polendina then noted after a moment's contemplation. "Are your additional capabilities actually based on the literal meanings of your names as actual warships of the Kingdom of Japan, Fukushima Fujiko? That was something that Chiyo mused about when I asked her about you and your sisters."

That question made both destroyers blink before they exchanged looks. "You're really smart, Penny-san!" Hinako then declared. "Hina wouldn't have been able to think of that!"

"That does make sense," Mayako noted as Penny blushed on sensing the wave of sheer delight the native of Niigata just projected towards her when she gave that compliment to the adopted Atlesian. "Fujiko's moniker on Yiziba is 'Blizzard of Death'. Her ship name literally means 'blizzard'. My ship name means 'massed clouds'..." Her jaw then dropped. "Which made me..."

"A 'meteorkinetic' as you just called yourself," Neptune finished, winking.

Laughter filled the room. Fujiko mentally ran through the names of the others of her overall class of twenty-four to pick out the right ones to be "salvaged" to help. "We had problems trying to get Shiroko-chan, Suzuki-chan and Shinobu-chan up over the last couple of weeks..."

"_Shinonome_, _Usugumo_ and _Shirakumo_," Mayako called out the ship names of the Fukushima sisters' missing siblings. "'Daybreak', 'Thin Clouds' and 'White Cloud' are the meanings of their names, Fujiko."

"The last two — Suzuki and Shinobu? — would be like you, Miss Mayako," Neptune noted.

"That first one's a possibility," Qrow noted. "Light manipulation, maybe?"

"A photokinetic, you mean," Mayako affirmed with a nod...

...then her eyes widened. "I think I know someone _**better**_!"

Eyes locked on her. "Who, Mayako-chan?!" Hinako asked.

The silver-haired girl smirked as she leaned down to gaze into the eyes of the woman who had salvaged her. "Ashikaga Akemi," she affirmed before she gazed knowingly at her sister. "_**Akebono**_!"

The natives all blinked as the Spirit of Innocence hummed...

* * *

_**In Isaac Thomas' cabin...!**_

"Is that a good thing, Isaac?"

The Wise Lone Sage chuckled. "It depends on what sort of overall mood our version of Akebono — Akemi — turns out to be once she's Gifted, General," Isaac Thomas noted as he poured tea for the leader of Atlas' military and the headmaster of Beacon. They had been monitoring the younger huntsmen through the _Normandy_'s security systems. "I've seen other dimensions where shipgirls exist. The destroyer _Akebono_ was often seen by her service as a 'ship of misfortune'; this is because she survived battles where some of her sisters didn't. This reflected in her soul — her kami as the Japanese call it — when such was embodied and made human." He shook his head as he handed the cups over to James Ironwood and Shannon Ozpin. "Hinako better be prepared for a lot of swearing and cursing from Akemi when she comes. Calling her leaders 'shitty admirals' and the like." As the older men winced, the native of Queens sat. "Still, I think that's a good guess on Fujiko's and Mayako's part. She'll be a photokinetic for sure. And no matter what her attitudes towards superiors, Akemi will always fight the good fight. None the less, how do Grimm react to high-intensity sunlight, Professor?"

"Used as a beam weapon? Not very well," Ozpin stated as Ironwood chuckled, both remembering huntsmen who had that sort of power. "I'm sure Miss Ashikaga will have quite the target-rich environment when she comes here." He sighed. "I'm torn. Part of me is beyond grateful that your people are looking our way once more, Isaac. But at the same time..."

"As we'd say it on Yiziba, this is ultimately YOUR fight scene in the end," Isaac finished, making both natives smirk as they nodded in appreciation. "Believe me, almost everyone on Yiziba would gladly agree to that, Professor. This has _**always**_ been your fight even if you didn't really understand the nature of what provoked this whole madness in the first place. As an animated series from my homeland always taught kids, 'knowing is half the battle'. Now that you understand what provoked this mess, you can then psychologically prepare yourselves to properly deal with it in a permanent manner. I'll help as will people like Chiyo, Elizabeth and Tánja, much less girls like Hinako and her 'fleet', to say anything of folks like Neville, Seth and Roman. But YOU people are leading the charge."

Ironwood smiled as he hoisted his cup. "To the end of the Grimm."

"And the survival of humanity," Ozpin added as he matched that toast.

"Let the fight scene go your way," Isaac finished.

The cups clinked, then they sipped. "So with Miss Mihama, Miss Wakefield and Miss Chapáeva helping out, how soon can synthetic Dust be made?" Ironwood asked as he sat back in his chair. "Much that I can understand the idea of bringing technology in that isn't powered by Dust, it would be the smarter thing to do in the end given the needs of people like Miss Adel."

"It is one of my primary projects. It also has to be kept top secret," Isaac advised, he raising a warning finger. "Primarily because of Weiss' father." Here, he gave the veteran huntsman a knowing look. "I'm sure he'll be more than PLEASED..." — the others could hear the sneer in the New Yorker's voice on saying that — "...to have that type of competition around. And I'm sure many in Atlas will be just as pleased that SDC won't be the only game in town in the long term, General."

"Agreed. Much that Jacques can be of help in many ways, his arrogance blinds him to far too many things. Seeing him knocked off his high horse will do the whole planet a lot of favours," Ironwood admitted as Ozpin snorted. "In a way, I can understand where people like Mister Taurus come from in the end. SDC was a lot more ethical before Jacques took charge of things. Already, he's making noise about forcing Atlas to refuse to import anything that your company makes."

"Because of people like Ken's sister?" Isaac wondered.

"In a way, yes. Jacques is apathetic when it comes to the Faunus as a whole, but he realized right away RI is becoming a beacon that is giving the Faunus in Vale a lot of power. Once you help the professor get Beacon back into operation and restore the CCT tower — or replace it with something better if Miss Wakefield's contribution turns out to be better — that will make Faunus worldwide take notice and move to support RI's expansion into the other kingdoms. That denies Jacques _**workers**_ in the end."

"I hope you have someone in mind to properly take over the company when we're all done here and you head back to Earth, Isaac," Ozpin noted.

"We haven't hit THAT stage of the storyline yet, Professor," Isaac warned, winking at the older man.

All three laughed. "What about the gamájun, Isaac?" Ironwood asked. "Can they be convinced to not swamp the planet just because the Grimm are descendants of those their god ordered destroyed?"

"That, we'll have to see," the younger man warned. "I don't know where this 'redoubt' actually is. Most likely, it's heavily shielded by mesonium in both diamond and ruby patterns. That's the one downside of using mesonium, General. If you have a scanner powered by mesonium, someone can effectively shield themselves using mesonium in like patterns. The gamájun are frequently hunted by poachers because of their beauty, their metamorphic capabilities, their magic, their overall intelligence and their precognitive powers. This has happened in Russia since way before Tsar Pjotr Velíkij saw his kingdom expanded into eastern Siberia three centuries ago. So this redoubt logically HAS to be quite heavily shielded from ANY potential intrusion. As to how they'll fully react to the existence of the Grimm...?"

A shrug rolled his shoulders as the others nodded in understanding...

* * *

_**Back on Earth, within Sano Bay in Siberia (local time: Two hours before breakfast)...**_

"To believe these things still EXIST...!"

"And they've EVOLVED as well...!"

"This planet must be BURNED to remove such a taint...!"

Hearing the hissed words from the various gamájun elders who were now standing in the central meeting hall of their high parliament — which was located in a magically expanded cave drilled into the side of the escarpment that formed the southern border of the bay itself — Lieutenant Moroboshi Kyōsuke of the Imperial Japanese Navy could only shake his head in sympathetic sorrow as he imagined how all of the beautiful metamorphic avians would take to the horrible news that had been brought back to Earth thanks to Newt Scamander. While the native of Sendai himself had never met the famous magizoologist, his overall clan — given their sacred place as the core family of the Tenchiaiki Jūkazoku, the hereditary special servants of the Imperial throne for over a millennia — were read into the realms of magic. Knowing that a man like Scamander wouldn't JOKE about something like THIS...!

"This isn't good, Kyōsuke-san," a voice warned from beside him.

The junior navigation officer to the commander of the First Air Fleet/Sixth Carrier Division — and thus of Tennō Heika Gunkan _Yonaga_ herself — perked on hearing that warning voice from Admiral Fujita Hiroshi's chief scribe, then he nodded. "No, Kenji-san, this isn't good at all," Kyōsuke mused as he gave Lieutenant Hironaka Kenji a knowing look. "As they view their proper place in Existence, our friends are more philosophers than warriors. Still, their martial skills have been as sacred to them as all the troves of history they hoarded over the centuries. They see honing those skills as a way of honouring their ancestors who fought those things. To learn that somehow, such beings _**survived**_...!"

Kenji scowled as that message sank in. Despite the differences of their outlook on life — Kenji himself was descent of a samurai clan from Saitama prefecture while Kyōsuke was a top-ranked ninjutsu-ka from Miyagi prefecture who was also trained as a Shintō shrine priest — both had the share experience of nearly _**seventy-one years**_ being entrapped in Sano-wan thanks to an earthquake that struck the region in the early fall of 1941. That dark day in the eyes of all of the crew of what was once Warship No. 797 — fifth of the Yamato-class battleships before conversion to an aircraft carrier more than a match to anything the Allies could have thrown her way — had been still three months shy of Operation Z, where _Yonaga_ would have swept in from Siberia to deliver the brutal _coup de grace_ on the American Pacific Fleet base at Pearl Harbour. Given the remainder of the First Air Fleet had botched the job if what the only American friend to _Yonaga_'s crew of over twenty-six hundred told them was true...!

Footfalls made both men tense before Kyōsuke smiled as a tall, broad-shouldered, blond, blue-eyed native of Virginia sat beside them. "What's the verdict?" Brent Ross calmly asked as he focused on that stained block of mesonium crystal now suspended between the seats where the elders of the Dúma Gamájuna relaxed themselves when they gathered for debate.

"Still up in the air, Brent-san," Kyōsuke mused as Kenji scribbled notes in his pad for review by their admiral once this meeting was over. "You should realize how much of a shock this is to them."

That made the retired intelligence officer nod. "As much of a shock finding you being tucked away here all these years," Brent calmly mused, earning him muffled snickers from Fujita Hiroshi's chief scribe.

Kyōsuke smirked as he patted his friend's knee while recalling that day in 2007, when a fishing crew from _Yonaga_ encountered a small sloop navigating the ice-filled waters of the Chúkchi Sea, piloted only by an American sailor in his forties. After the ship — the _Memory of Sparta_ — was captured and the sailor interrogated by American-born Lieutenant Commander Matsuhara Yoshi, it came as a surprise to learn the recently-retired LCDR Brent Ross was the SON of the captain of the tramp steamer _Sparta_, who sacrificed his life saving others of _Yonaga_'s crew from a freak winter gale twenty-four years before.

Once Brent was brought aboard the last warship of the Imperial Navy and interrogated by Fujita...!

All three men then tensed as something akin to a chilly breeze warped through their bodies. "No...!" Kyōsuke hissed as he focused his well-honed mage-sight towards the cave entrance and the mighty warship beyond. "_**This is NOT your fight, Yonaga-sama!**_" he added with a touch of ki in his voice as Brent and Kenji placed comforting hands on their shipmate's shoulder. "_**Hai, these are our friends and adopted family, but the creature that offends them is of another planet...**_"

"The Seventh One must rise, young seer..."

The officers spun around to see an aged woman draped in silvery feathers gazing with unseeing eyes upon them. "Grandmother, please," Brent then calmly stated, bowing his head to the eldest of the Nest of Seers, a woman who had lived for centuries and whose prophecies were seen as holy writ by both her own people as well as the vast majority of _Yonaga_'s crew, including their adopted shipmate from America. "Much that we're shocked at what Professor Scamander warned you of..."

A quiet cackle escaped the blind woman as she focused her own mage-sight on the star quarterback of Annapolis' winning team in 1982. "Your _**head**_ tells you that...but your _**heart**_ has always wished otherwise, Child of the Old Dominion," the elderly seer — whose name had always escaped Brent — proclaimed as a clawed fingertip tapped his nose playfully. "The continued existence of the alconóst is an affront to ALL the Great Old Ones, not just Master Túndra! That it was the Spirit Ones who saved them from Master Túndra's judgment matters not! While we cannot leave Svjetjjílische even if we trust your brothers of the Wa in protecting our sacred nests, the Seventh One CAN and WILL do so...!"

"Obā-sama, with all respect, there IS a problem," Kyōsuke humorously warned.

"The Great Nest of the Tears of the Stars can resolve that, young sage," the aged seer cackled...

...just as the whole of Sano-wan began to violently quake.

"Oh, SHIT...!" Brent croaked as everyone in the hall tensed...

...right before the crystal that currently held the attention of the Dúma Gamájuna exploded!

Screams filled the room as heavy magical shields that had been used to trap the frozen king taijitu within failed, allowing the dank two-headed serpentine creature to rear out, hissing with outrage at being trapped within that hideous crystal for so long. As the metamorphic avians who had been examining the Grimm screeched while many transformed to make use of their more devastating attacks, the sucking sounds of people apparating into the vast all made the three normal humans there gasp.

"«_**NOW LET'S SEE YOU CREATURES RUN!**_»" one middle-aged man screamed in Russian.

"_**KONTŌ!**_"

A blazing energy katana emerged from Kyōsuke's hand as the junior navigation officer leapt over, metaphorically cutting through the head of an elderly witch who had been moving to entrap the blind elder they had been speaking to moments before. Said witch screeched as the burning power of the soulsword ripped her living spirit of her body, sending the lifeless corpse to the hard floor with a thud. As Brent and Kenji drew their Type 14 Nambu 8 millimetre pistols to shoot at the platoon-strength group of magicals who obviously used the alien creature to breach the wards protecting Sano-wan from the outside world, another wizard levelled his wand on Kyōsuke, screaming, "_**AVÁDA KEDÁVRA!**_"

The soulsword swept about to deflect that green beam of magic into a nearby wall as Kenji levelled his pistol and fired, the bullet catching the wizard in the throat. As he collapsed to the ground, the obvious leader of this invading group of poachers snarled, "«_**FILTHY MÁGLY! HOW DARE YOU...?!**_»"

Half his head exploded from a well-aimed shot from Brent's pistol. While the attacking wizards moved to both put down the interfering normals and capture the elders of the Dúma Gamájuna, screams echoed from the entrance as a considerable parliament of gamájun warriors and a division's worth of _Yonaga_'s crew stormed in, spears, katana and Type 99 Arisaka rifles at the ready. Bullets and spells began flying as a general mêlée began, with the magicals being forced away from each other so they couldn't use massed shielding spells to protect them from the storm of 7.7 millimetre bullets being sent their way by the Japanese sailors, who had over seven decades to improve their marksmanship to the point where they could easily outmatch Great War British soldiers in "mad minute" competitions. Even more so, much to the horror of the poachers, the gleaming swords welded by officers were too strong for even the supposedly-unstoppable Killing Curse from either damaging or destroying them...never mind what Moroboshi Kyōsuke's energy version would do to someone once he got in striking range.

Distant booms echoed, making Brent hiss. "Oh, fuck! They're flying over the ship!" the intelligence officer snapped on recognizing the deep echo of _Yonaga_'s battery of twinned 12.7 centimetre/40 calibre Type 89 dual purpose guns that served as the carrier's primary defensive armament.

With that, he sprinted out of the cave, with Kenji right behind them. Once clear of the tunnel, the American stopped before he hissed on seeing a virtual AIR FORCE WING of broom and magic carpet flyers currently swarming over the long flight deck of Japan's largest warship. As _Yonaga_'s twenty Type 89s and two hundred-and-ten 25 millimetre Type 96 Model 2Y anti-aircraft cannons turned the roughly cubic kilometre over the 320 x 55 metre flight deck into a zone of pure death for the invading poachers, Brent's eyes searched thoroughly through the sky he could see to get some numbers. "Jesus Christ!" he snapped. "There must be a _**thousand**_ of those damned stalebloods here now...!"

"_**WHAT DID YOU CALL US, YANKEE?! KRÚTSIO!**_"

Brent's whole body lit up as if he was dumped in acid, waves of pain driving him to his knees as his mind was overwhelmed by such an attack. As Kenji spun around to shoot the attacking wizard, the latter's companion snapped off a stunning spell to knock the scribe down, then he levelled his wand while the one torturing Brent ended the curse. "What in Koschéj's Name is an AMERICAN doing among a ship full of JAPANESE mágly?!" he demanded as he levelled his wand on Brent's face. "Let's...!"

A finger tapped his shoulder. "Hey, dude! There's a multi-legged creature crawling on your shoulder!"

That made the wizard perk before turning. "Oh, spasíbo za...!"

_**KK-KRACK!**_

Said wizard's companion screamed in disbelief as the newcomer's left hand whipped around in a backwards slap, the metaphorical power of 17,781 tonnes of nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser striking with such force that the man who had been torturing Brent Ross was sent flying at near-sonic speeds into a nearby cliff, the body splattering quite decoratively from the impact. That made the wizard who knocked Hironaka Kenji out of the way level his own wand at her. "_**AVÁDA KEDÁVRA!**_"

The bolt of light slammed into the strange woman's side...

...and did nothing.

"Ouch," Naomi Haight-Ashbury mock-crooned as the hapless poacher gaped at her...

...which was enough for Fujita Hiroshi's chief scribe. "_**TENNŌ HEIKA BANZAI!**_"

The wizard's head exploded thanks to a shot from Kenji's pistol. "Righteous!" Naomi whooped before she gazed on the carrier. "_**YO! BIG Y! YOU WANNA PARTY?! NOW'S THE TIME, BIG DUDETTE!**_"

As a groan escaped Brent while Kenji moved to help him, the very SKY overhead suddenly opened up...

_**Tene lomher'buo, Itō Yoiko...!**_

"_**NO!**_" the screaming voice of Moroboshi Kyōsuke echoed from the cave as the navigation officer sprinted out to try to wave off what was happening. "_**YONAGA-SAMA, WAIT...!**_"

Then the whole of the basin was lit up in blinding light!

_**Nesu...GAEYUO!**_

People seeing this all screamed...

...just as the ground near Brent heaved when the metaphorical weight of an 86,010 tonne armoured aircraft carrier crashed down, it now in the form of a VERY tall Japanese woman of about thirty, with well-defined muscles, the eyes of a raging typhoon and long black hair in a low ponytail peppered by streaks of silver. She walked out of the light to approach the transformed missile cruiser, her gait proud and determined. As Kyōsuke, Kenji and the recovering Brent stared in shock on seeing such a being now appear before them — draped somewhat traditionally in a green martial arts gi-like uniform with grey belt and boots under the bell bottom trousers, a Wheel of Dhármachakra printed in gold under her V-neck collar in the cleavage of her well-shaped breasts, that ultimate symbol of Buddhism embossed with the classically-scripted kanji **代永** in black vertical formation framing the wheel's hub — the woman's eyes then focused directly on the brown orbs of Naomi Haight-Ashbury for a moment.

Seeing that instantly reminded the three officers of the way their admiral always stared at someone when the veteran of Tsushima wanted to know the whole story about something.

Then...

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then...

"When were you struck?"

The three sailors jolted on hearing that steely yet moaning-like voice escape the being that had just appeared in their midst...while in the background, ALL of _Yonaga_'s over twenty-six hundred officers and men found themselves standing on the shores of the bay that had trapped their great ship for nearly seventy-one years, all looking around in understandable confusion at their change of circumstances. In the sky overhead, the attacking magicals were literally frozen in place, unable to move, use spells or escape, trapped there by the sheer power of two incredible warships made not only human...

...but METAHUMAN!

"Monday, the first of May in 1995. The Seventh Year of Heisei."

Hearing that from the transformed cruiser, the Ice Warrior of Eternity just named by the living sentience of the Great Crystal of Power on a planet 228 light years from Earth allowed an eyebrow to arch, which made the Cosmic All-Seer snicker in amusement. "Oi! Lock those phasers on the squares trying to steal your sky, Big Y!" Naomi said as she pointed up behind the woman now called "Itō Yoiko".

The newly-transformed and Gifted seventh carrier of Operation Z blinked, then she gazed on her current captives. Said people also being held in place by the transformed nuclear cruiser now at her side, she quickly sensed. "I trust you have a strong stomach, Long Beach-dono." Hearing that, Brent gaped on recognizing the name of the ship he sailed on during the Gulf War as an analyst from the Office of Naval Intelligence detached to local fleet commanders, that making him turn to gaze wide-eyed on Naomi. As he was quick to notice the standard stadium ring-shaped badge of a warship of the United States Navy over her heart, the just-transformed fifth of the Yamato-class added, "I care not for STALEBLOODS attacking my crew or their families. My sincerest thanks for holding them fast for interrogation."

The cruiser snorted. "They used the crystal carrying that king taijitu here as a tracking beacon. Wipe out the Dúma, kill all the adults and kidnap all the chicks to be their personal sex dolls."

Suddenly, those grey eyes light up like twin suns. "_**EXCUSE ME?!**_"

"Master Túndra desires this, Seventh One!"

Both shipgirls turned to see the elderly seer that Kyōsuke, Brent and Kenji had been speaking to earlier now come out of the cave, being tenderly supported by two of Yoiko's duty watch of seamen guards. As the groups of Japanese sailors closest to where their transformed ship now stood moved to approach her, the cackling sage then held up a glistening curved sword dotted with ruby mesonium crystals, it in a sheath of pure ironwood with diamond mesonium bracing to keep it from being harmed.

"A sháshka?" Yoiko mused as the seer floated the sword over. "Forged in one of my own metalworking shops by your granddaughter as I recall, Obā-sama." Gracefully bowing to her, she then leapt into the air and charged right at the largest cluster of broom riders, with Naomi right behind her.

Naturally, the normal people at the head of the bay could only gape in understandable awe...before Kenji found his voice. "What happens to the mission now?" he weakly asked.

"That's for the admiral to decide, Kenji-san," Kyōsuke wearily warned, shaking his head...

_**To Be Continued...!**_

* * *

**WRITER'S NOTES**

Translation list: **Továrisch** — Comrade/Adventuring companion; **Akadémik** — Academician, a member of a scientific academy; **Dvojúrodnaja Bábushka** — Great-Grandmother; **Kuláki** — Literally "tightfisted", the term is used here to indicate magical purebloods in Russia; **Volshébnaja Dúma** — Magical Dúma, the equivalent of Britain's **Wizengamot**; **Ministérstvo Mágicheskikh Del Rossíjskaja Federátsii** — Ministry of Magical Affairs of the Russian Federation (short-formed **MMD**); **Giri** — Duty/Obligation/Burden of Obligation; **Ninjō** — Human Emotion/Compassion; **Tokubetsu Kōgekitai** — Special Attack Unit, the official term for the **Kamikaze** that flew in defence of Japan in the last years of World War Two; **Pjotr Velíkij** — Peter the Great, the title normally applied to one of the greatest of Russia's emperors, **Pjotr Alekséevich Románov**, who reigned from 1682-1725; **Mágly** — Plural of **magl** ("muggle"); **Krútsio** — Russian pronunciation of **Crucio** (the incantation for the **Cruciatus Curse**); **Spasíbo za...!** — Thanks for...!; **Tennō Heika Banzai** — Literally "Long Live His Majesty the Heavenly Sovereign", this was the battle cry often used by Imperial Japanese soldiers and sailors.

The term **isles of Sawaiki** used here refer to the **Hawai'ian Islands**; the term "Sawaiki" is derived from the proto-Polynesian term meaning "homeland".

The term **fifteenth year of Genroku** used here refers to the year 1702, when the **Forty-Seven Rōnin** finally avenged the death of their late former lord **Asano Naganori** upon the man who provoked that death via seppuku, **Kira Yoshinaka**. The tale of the Forty-Seven Rōnin was popularized in Japanese culture over the following centuries as emblematic of the loyalty, sacrifice, persistence and honour that people should preserve in their daily lives. Naturally, this tale was one of the main influences on...

The tale of **Tennō Heika Gunkan **_**Yonaga**_ (hull number KB-11; the hull classification code **KB** means **Kōkū Bokan** [aircraft carrier]) — who, in human form, gains the name **Itō Yoiko** — and her astonishingly long-lived crew are based on the novel _**The Seventh Carrier**_ by the late **Peter Albano**, plus the series of sequel stories that were written from 1983-1996. This particular series of dime store action adventure novels may have not been well-written and had plot holes within it that one could sail _Yonaga_ herself through, but they inspired Fred in the early years of his own fan fiction writing, leading up to the first appearance of a shipgirl version of THG _Yonaga_ in various other stories and snippets he wrote for other _KanColle_ fanfic series, culminating in _The Seventh Shipgirl_.

The tales of what Japanese shipgirls call the **Ryūseizen** are covered in Fred's _Magic and Canada_.

The old kingdoms of Remnant referred here by **Qrow Branwen** in this part can be found on a fan map of the planet done by **FiredArt** and modified by **RedRumSprinkes**. Such can be found via a search in Google using the terms "kingdoms of Remnant".

The reason that three of the Fubuki-class destroyers who have not appeared in this or the main story — **THG **_**Shinonome**_ (**Fukushima Shiroko**), **THG **_**Usugumo**_ (**Fukushima Suzuki**) and **THG **_**Shirakumo**_ (**Fukushima Shinobu**) — is because they have yet to be made playable characters in _Kantai Collection_. If Shiroko, Suzuki and Shinobu do appear in the future, they would physically take after various other interpretations of their eldest sister **THG **_**Fubuki**_ (**Fukushima Fujiko**), with Shiroko resembling Fujiko's _Warship Girls_ interpretation, Suzuki resembling Fujiko's _Victory Belles_ self and Shinobu taking after Fujiko's _Azur Lane_ version...without the various therianthropic features that persona possesses.

_Seventh Carrier_ character notes: Admiral **Fujita Hiroshi** appeared in the first story, as did Lieutenant **Hironaka Kenji** and then-Ensign **Brent Ross**. Lieutenant Commander **Matsuhara Yoshi** first appeared in the first sequel story, _The Second Voyage of the Seventh Carrier_. Lieutenant **Moroboshi Kyōsuke** and Seaman **Fujisaki Tomohisa** first appeared in Fred's fanfic story _The Angels of the Era of Eternity_.

The concept of the **Tenchiaiki Jūkazoku** ("Ten Harmonious Clans of Heaven and Earth") was first introduced in Fred's story _Lonely Souls_.

The term **Sháshka** literally means "long knife". This is the Russian translation of a western Circassian term applied to a model of sharp, single-edged, curved and guardless backswords used by horsemen of the various Cossack tribes that once ruled the areas of modern-day southern Russia and Ukraine.


	7. Assassins, Giftings, Meetings, Oh My!

**DISCLAIMER: Concurrent with fair dealing clauses of the **_**Copyright Act **_**(R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42) of Canada and fair use clauses in copyright legislation in other nations, this is a work that was created solely for entertainment purposes. Furthermore, it is posted freely on the Internet without expectation or requirement of remuneration.**

* * *

_**Somewhere in Hokkaidō, Tuesday morning, two hours before breakfast (Vale time: An hour after supper; Petropávlovsk-Kamchátskij time: Tuesday, an hour after breakfast)...**_

A flash of energy appeared out of nowhere in front of a well-hidden stone torii-like gate somewhere on Japan's northern island, revealing two people having just teleported the many light-years from Remnant to the third world of Sol. If anyone from Yiziba saw them at this time, s/he would be totally shocked to see the likes of _**Leno Lu'umlo**_ of all people dressed in a black Terran business suit; the underlying dress shirt, though, was in his preferred deep purple. Of course, Neo Politan was dressed once more in her preferred multi-colour style, though it was altered to match Terran fashion than Remnantian, which was in many places a few decades behind that of the mother world of humanity.

"What's with the trip here, Padre?" the Ballerina of the Final Darkness wondered as she followed the Mad Prophet of the Future through the gate into a somewhat darkened compound well shielded from outside view except high in the sky, it bordered by rather plain yet livable buildings.

"You require some training, my dear," Leno noted as he walked towards the largest building in the compound opposite where the main gate was. "If I know the good doctor as half as well as I think I do, he'll be training his new recruits as well. He is _**very**_ good at that."

A snarky yet anticipatory grin crossed the Valean mercenary's face. She had to admit, Isaac Thomas had totally surprised her. In the experiences of her past-selves, hyper-genius polymaths like the Wise Lone Sage were more content in making use of their various gadgets to survive a fight scene. Seeing Isaac willingly mix it up with the likes of _**Adam Taurus**_ — and WIN! — was quite the eye-opener to Neo. "Pretty understandable," she then admitted. "So who'd you get to help out?"

He gave her a knowing smile. "Only the best."

He then knocked on the door...

...before his smile grew wider as someone literally stepped out of nearby shadows to approach them. Said fellow was dressed in black from neck to toe, in the same fashion as the Mad Prophet donned for this meeting...though he also had a long black trench coat draped over his shoulders in lieu of a proper business jacket. A dark grey fedora hat was perched on his head, that framed with slicked-back raven hair. His brown eyes were protected by tinted aviator sunglasses. Gazing at him, Neo shivered on sensing the level of emotional control this man had, to say ANYTHING of his remarkable fighting skill. Even more so, her well-honed ability to sense a person's Aura potential revealed that despite him NOT being a metahuman, he had long mastered his body's abilities through LOTS of training and experience.

"Leno-san," the newcomer greeted. "So, you came through with your promise."

"A promise is a promise, Master Jō," Leno stated as he reached out to grasp their host's hand. "That is as sacred to faces and heels alike on Yiziba as much as it is in many places here on Earth. And on Remnant as well," he added as he gazed on his first Remnantian recruit. "May I present Mistress Neo Politan of the city of Vale on Remnant, who is now the Ballerina of the Final Darkness; you'd call her 'Danzatrice' here." As Neo curtseyed to their host, Leno waved to him. "And this is Master Amon Jō, the current leader of the Amon Clan, the finest group of assassins that exist on this planet."

"Save, of course, for those whose training is descent from the Immortal Master such as the Earth Angel and the Protector of All Life themselves, of course," Jō calmly noted as he returned Neo's curtsey with a bow, inwardly smiling on seeing the pained look on Leno's face. Even if they were acquaintances, the leader of the world's most proficient clan of assassins always felt that the reborn preacher was still too blinded by his own prejudices. "Welcome to Earth, Neo-san."

"Dōmo," she replied in Japanese before some snark entered her voice as she crossed her arms. "What's with the _Matrix_ look?" At the surprised stares from Leno and Jō, she added, "My immediate past-self visited Earth about twelve years ago. She saw the movie."

Both men laughed. "My dear, the Amon-ichizoku make this look be feared long before that movie came out...though I must confess, Reeves-san did an excellent job performing in that film!" Jō stated with a dramatic bow. "As Leno-san just stated, I am the leader of the Amon-ichizoku. Amon Jō at your service." He gazed on the Mad Prophet of the Future. "So, you brought your first recruit from this Remnant planet as your promised. I assumed you would desire her to be trained?"

"Given what Isaac's been doing, do you blame me?" Leno wondered.

A hum answered him. "Yes, given his interests, he would have been quite the student himself."

The reborn prophet nodded. "So why should a professional mercenary who has thrived on _**Remnant**_ of all planets be NOT trained by the greatest assassins below Mistress Negako herself on this planet?"

Jō tried not to blush at that praise...

...before he tensed, spinning around. "Who...?"

"Calm yourself, Jō."

Neo almost felt her bowels let go at that ice-cold voice, which immediately reminded her of the one time she had heard the Queen of Darkness speak to Cinder Fall before the attack on Beacon the previous evening back on Remnant. The shadows nearby then melted into a woman looking to be about her age, dressed like her host in solid black from neck to toe, though she wore a more traditional kimono-and-pleated hakama combination with a black belt wrapped around her waist, that topped with the golden kanji **地** at the ends of the belt. On seeing her, Leno looked pale as Neo nearly fell to her knees as the sheer level of emotional control this being had over herself nearly overwhelmed her empathic powers with its seemingly magnetic pull. Jō wasn't bothered by her appearance. "Shihan-sama," he greeted the personal assassin of the Heavenly Sovereign with a respectful bow.

Moroboshi Negako returned that with a polite nod. "Jō. Leno." She then focused on Neo before she reached over to tap several places on the right side of her neck, making the just-Gifted mercenary tensed before sheer steel flooded her heart to clamp down on her new metahuman abilities. As the young mercenary blinked in confusion, the grandmaster of Saikō Jinseijutsu-ryū nodded. "Recently Gifted. And still grieving for a lost close friend. From Remnant, Leno?"

"Um...y-yes, Mistress Negako," the Mad Prophet of the Future stuttered. Which was for good reason. Despite his many abilities, he wasn't going to test himself on a being who had once duelled Earth's very own _**Jewel Warrior**_ of all people, fighting her to a STANDSTILL in the recent world war. "The man who rescued and trained her in her native gifts was killed last night in an attack orchestrated by that death cheater Salem on her former paramour. Has Master Isaac informed you of things?"

"I maintain contact," Negako coolly stated. "Roman Torchwick?"

Hearing that name, Neo felt her eyes mist over before she silently nodded. Seeing that, Negako nodded in turn. "He trained you very well, Neo," she declared, making the younger woman gasp as she gazed in wide-eyed shock at this strange creature in the form of a very beautiful brown-haired woman with nearly black eyes that seemed to suck in all light around her. "Live and thrive, then avenge yourself of those who orchestrated Roman's death. That is how you will properly heal from his loss, Neo."

Hearing that made Neo's face brighten as she sensed that this highly-trained being was quite honest in the words she just spoke. "Well said, Shihan-sama," Jō affirmed with a nod. "Any recommendations?"

"A trial bout."

"Would you care to call the dance?"

"If you desire. Leno, we must talk afterwards."

Hearing that, the reborn socialist preacher shakily nodded...

* * *

_**Vale City on Remnant, that moment...**_

"General Ironwood."

James Ironwood perked on hearing that prim voice, then he turned to see one of his more prominent subordinates approach him as he was about to walk through the main entrance gate to Renaissance Industries; the expert huntsman had been beamed down from the _Normandy_ close to the ground command site of his expeditionary force so he could get updates on what was happening with the withdrawal to Atlas before seeing RI for himself. "Captain Schnee. I thought you were supposed to be in Mistral," the leader of Atlas' military stated as the elder daughter of Remnant's richest resident came up to stand at attention before him, she escorted by a small troupe of Knight-200 combat androids.

Winter Schnee took a deep breath. "Forgive me, General, but I was en route to Mistral when my father's butler alerted me to last night's and this morning's..." She scowled as she gazed around her. "_Activities!_" she coolly added. "Once word got to the Council about Father being attacked by some rogue while you and the local forces were attempting to capture that monster Taurus, they overrode your decision and had me come here to ensure Father and my sister return to Atlas."

Ironwood nodded. "Return to Captain Schnee's ship, men," he ordered the androids before he waved the silver-haired special operations officer with him through the main gate leading to the expertly-rebuilt old warehouse. As the androids about-turned and marched off, the two Atlesians walked through the main entrance gate leading into Renaissance Industries' main complex. Such was located in the southern part of Vale's commercial district overlooking the shores of the Beacon River, an inlet that extended from its namesake academy west to the open ocean well beyond the industrial zones and the dockyard that was the scene of the final engagement between the forces of the White Fang and local huntsmen augmented by human soldiers from Atlas. "What did you learn?"

"That we lost Penny," Winter declared with a touch of sadness. "Which was a shame. Her potential was amazing." She then nodded to the local security guard — a scowling crocodilian therianthrope who towered over both huntsmen, standing well over two metres high — as Ironwood presented his scroll for inspection. After Winter did same, the guard tapped a control and waved them inside. "Quite intimidating security," she quietly added as they found themselves in the main reception all.

Fortunately, a guide was waiting for them. "Good to see you again, General," Mikazuki Yozora stated as she politely bowed to them. "And you must be Weiss' sister," she added as she gazed upon Winter, earning her a surprised look from the special forces officer. "I'm sure your family must be proud of your service with your kingdom." At that comment, Winter blushed, which earned her a smirk from her superior officer. "If you're here to see your sister safely returned back to Atlas City, she's in one of the employee lounges right now. Please follow me, General, Captain."

She waved them down a hallway. Gazing upon the raven-haired teenage girl who was now escorting them through a place that Winter's father would gladly wish burn down for the many threats such presented to his own business holdings, the young special forces officer blinked as her own ability to read someone's Aura potential clicked in. On noting what she could see of Yozora, her sky blue eyes went wide with realization, then she moved to snap-draw her duelling sabre.

"_**CAPTAIN!**_" Ironwood snapped, causing the younger huntsman to yelp in shock.

A pair of twinkling amethyst eyes then focused on the two Atlesians. "I take it the captain just sensed the truth about me?" Yozora playfully asked before she waved them towards a nearby elevator.

As Winter gaped in shock at such joviality from the obvious artificial person in front of her, Ironwood chuckled. "Yes, she just did. Then again, I did train her in being able to detect people's Aura potential when she opted for special forces training. Allowing you to mask the truth of your existence is clearly something that Isaac needs to work on with people like yourself, Miss Mikazuki."

Weiss Schnee's elder sister blinked in understandable confusion as she gazed on her superior, then the obviously advanced artificial person who was their current escort through Renaissance Industries, then back again. "I'm sure Isaac can do something about that, General," Yozora stated as she tapped a random code into the security lock governing the elevator's movements. "Although I was never built to be a full combat unit such as your people created Penny as, I can defend myself well."

Winter blinked several more times as the subtle hum of an elevator car approaching echoed through the space. "Mister Thomas created you, Miss Mikazuki?"

"Indeed he did, as he did many others, Captain. Including the senior scientists," Yozora affirmed. "General, are you sure the captain is ready to accept ALL the truths about what we're doing here?"

"She's ready, Miss Mikazuki," Ironwood declared, making Winter immediately stiffen as she realized she was about to be let in on a rather BIG secret concerning their hosts.

The car then arrived, the doors swooshing open...

...before Winter exclaimed in disbelief and shock on seeing who was there.

"Oh, sorry about that, Yozora-chan!" the living goddess standing inside the car then apologized. "I didn't know you were escorting Oji-chan and Winter-chan around the building..."

_**KK-KLONK!**_

Ironwood winced as he heard Winter hit the floor in a dead faint!

"Huh?" Kasuga Ayumu breathed out. "Gee! Was it something I said?"

* * *

_**Minutes later...**_

A moan escaped Winter Schnee as her eyes fluttered open.

"Winter!"

Blinking on hearing the concerned voice of her sister, the special forces officer found herself gazing at a well-lit ceiling before she looked to her left to see Weiss Schnee move to kneel beside her; they were in some large cafeteria. "Weiss..." the eldest child of Jacques Schnee breathed out before she looked once more at the ceiling, her bewilderment quite obvious. "I just had the most incredible dream..."

"What of?" the younger huntress asked.

"That I just encountered the _**One Above the Gods**_...!"

Weiss' own eyes twinkled. "No dream."

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

Then...

"_What_...?!" Winter eeped.

Weiss pointed to her left, making her sister sit up and look...

...before her jaw dropped to the floor in disbelief on seeing a brown-haired woman in a modified version of the famous grey uniform once worn by the being who had banished the Two Brothers forever from Remnant standing beside her own superior officer and her old rival from Anima, chatting away excitedly about something. Before Winter could sputter out anything, footfalls heralded the approach of a much younger woman in the same model of clothes, though hers were gold with tenné brown belt and boots, protective goggles on her face protecting the most expressive brown eyes the special forces officer had ever seen on anyone! In her hand was a tray with a very large sundae on it, topped with a very sweet red cherry. "Ah! Winter-san! Are you okay?! Ōsaka-san didn't scare you that much, did she?"

Winter blinked before she gazed at Kasuga Ayumu, then back at Mihama Chiyo. "Er...are you from...?"

"Adopted, as are Ōsaka-san and the others dressed like I am," the young pre-teen genius declared with an understanding nod before she handed Winter the sundae. "Here you go. You have something to eat. You're going to be shocked about a lot of things over the next few minutes, so this will help you settle your stomach." She then winked. "Reveal scenes like this are ALWAYS upsetting to the stomach."

Weiss giggled as the Bright Genius of the Young Guns headed over to rejoin Blake Belladonna and several other Faunus, including one woman Winter recognized right away as Monica Khan, niece of the current leader of the White Fang. As the younger heiress of the Schnee business empire moved to help her sister sit up, the special forces officer took a chance to look around. The cafeteria — which was about half the size of the main dining hall at the Beacon Academy — was filled with excited people, mostly Faunus with a smattering of normal humans. Several more were dressed in the form-fitting uniforms that the girl who had presented her with a sundae and the One Above the Gods — _Shouldn't that be a MAN?!_ Winter then wondered as she gazed towards Ayumu, who still had both Qrow Branwen's and James Ironwood's attention — who were dispersed among the locals.

"Are you okay?" Weiss teasingly asked.

The elder heiress of the Schnee fortune blinked again before she sighed. "When was this discovered?" she wondered as she absently reached for her spoon, then took up a hunk of very tasty ice cream.

"Oh, Isaac..." — here, Weiss pointed to Isaac Thomas, who was currently standing by the serving area, discussing things with Glynda Goodwitch, Bartholomew Oobleck and Peter Port — "...had to reveal himself last night when all the fun began. Taurus' people were out to target him because he was introducing his native technology which doesn't need Dust. He got Blake's old lover and her friends to switch sides, saw Gray Haddock killed, then summoned some of his friends from his adopted homeworld..." — here, she indicated Chiyo, then Neville Longbottom — "...to help us with the Grimm. Did you see how clear the Academy grounds were when you came in?"

As she recalled what she saw when she had flown into Vale, Winter nodded. "How did that happen?"

Weiss indicated the Master of Plants. "Partially, that was Master Neville's doing. He has the ability to manipulate plants, including a type of dandelion that creates a mist which kills Grimm on contact." As Winter's jaw dropped on hearing that — such plants would be devastating against the Grimm who had crowded the citizens of Atlas into their present enclaves, denying them the vast majority of Solitas for settlement — her sister added, "Once Master Neville brought in the mist dandelions, Lady Ayumu used her power to spread them all over Vale." Here, she indicated the Goddess Who Walks Among Men.

The older woman gazed in awe at the living goddess nearby, then she allowed her well-honed sight abilities to click in. She instantly squeezed her eyes closed as she spun away, nearly blinded by the intensive corona of power contained within the body of the native of Wakayama. As Weiss winced, Ayumu gazed over. "Oi! Winter-chan! Don't do that, okay?! You're gonna hurt yourself!"

Winter blinked as she felt her vision come back while Qrow came over. "Hey, you okay?"

Gazed upon him, the special forces officer blinked before her jaw dropped. "_**YOU'RE SOBER!**_"

That made the veteran of Team SRTQ blink before he chuckled. "Yeah, I am. Weird feeling."

"Are you alright, Winter?!"

Winter perked before she looked over...

...then she nearly collapsed to the floor in another dead faint on seeing a wide-eyed and clearly ALIVE Penny Polendina come over to her. "_**P-P-PENNY?!**_" she exclaimed as her eyes teared in disbelief, the images of the poor gynoid being sliced apart by the power of Pyrrha Nikos replaying again in her mind.

Weiss grabbed her sister's sundae to prevent her from dropping it while Qrow chuckled in amusement and Penny moved to kneel before her first combat trainer. "Oh, I'm so happy you're...URRRK!"

The gynoid-turned-synthezoid stopped as her evergreen eyes suddenly glowed a brilliant silver...

_**Tene lomher'buo, Persephone Polendina...!**_

"'Persephone'?" Isaac wondered from nearby as Penny straightened herself, her silver jumpsuit beginning to glow — as was her body — as something started to flow deeply into her.

"It was the name her creator gave her," Ironwood noted as his special sight sensed the ghostly echo of SOMETHING appear behind Penny before moving to merge with her body. "That is just AMAZING...!"

Sensing the huntsmen in the room were seeing the Gift crystal that had chosen the adopted Atlesian as her new host, the Wise Lone Sage then barked out, "_**EVERYONE! TURN YOUR EYES AWAY!**_"

People jolted before spinning away as Penny's whole body became as bright as Oum itself...!

_**Nesu...IMRAMR'BE!**_

A joyful cry escaped the transformed gynoid as the sheer influx of mesonium being pushed into her body by the Great Crystal of Power transformed the silicon of her current synthezoid form to carbon-type strands of proteins, forming perfect codes of naturally organic DNA and RNA while her pre-Gifting suit changed to a jumpsuit of the same evergreen shade as she once wore with her normal clothes, silver pouch-lined belt and boots completing the ensemble. Silver trimming in Yizibajohei numbers lined like computer code appeared along the outer flanks of her legs and abdomen, plus trimmed the sides of her top; on the chest above her cleavage was a silver computer power icon insignia.

As people spun back to gaze upon the just-Gifted woman, Penny's glowing eyes returned to their normal fresh evergreen shade before she shook her head...then she blinked as Ayumu came over to stand before her. Gazing deeply into the eyes of the newest incarnation of the Mind-Moulder of Armour, _**Imramr'be**_ ("_**Operator**_"), the Goddess Who Walks Among Men then reached up to once again probe her fingers into the transformed gynoid's head, making Winter screech in disbelief...

_**KK-KLONK!**_

...before she dropped once more into a dead faint on the floor!

"Ōsaka-san...!" a moaning Chiyo breathed out from nearby, her head drooping.

Ayumu hummed as she pulled her fingers out before she raised her hand in greeting. "O-ha!"

Penny blinked before she echoed that move. "Salutations!"

Silence fell...

...then a wild cheer exploded from everyone in the room!

* * *

_**In a nearby office...**_

"Eh?! Penny-san was just Gifted?!"

Hearing Saeru Hinako's exclamation, Pyrrha Nikos looked over at the young native of Niigata, who had been busy with six of her fleet of shipgirls scanning through PAAs to link with Earth's Internet system to get information on what they now called _**Hinako's Spring Break Shipgirl Hunt, Part II**_; the youngest of the Fukushima sisters, Fukushima Urako — known on Yiziba as the Speedy Tsunami, _**Boba**_ ("_**Uranami**_") — was flying about, using cloud cover to keep aerial watch over the property. "Um...I didn't hear anything, Hinako," the native of Mistral stated; she had been placed in this office so Weiss Schnee's elder sister wouldn't be shocked by too much information crashing down on her all at once.

The Spirit of Innocence smiled. "Hina felt it when Penny-san was Gifted, Pyrrha-san," she affirmed as her caramel eyes twinkled and a surge of reassurance flowed out of her body.

Pyrrha shuddered before she felt herself relaxing from that flood of empathic energy from the young elementary school student. While still a little bothered that someone like Hinako — who was only SEVEN years old! — had such a great Gift, she did feel reassured by the mix of ultra-cute innocence and wise knowledge the Terran girl projected to others. The Mistralite was fearful of what the reaction would be if Hinako confronted the darker sides of what happened on Remnant; even if her empathy was something the Grimm couldn't tolerate if what she learned from Team SSSN concerning that king taijitu was true, there were other things on Remnant that would make even the most hardened huntsman sick.

A beeping sound then echoed. "_Uranami to Flag!_"

Fukushima Fujiko tapped her PAA. "Flag, go."

"_Gomen nasai, but I just heard screams emanating from a warehouse two blocks west from the main gate_," Urako called out. "_They sound like young women to me, Onē-san...and they all sound in terrible distress! There are some male voices shouting as well, I think!_"

Hinako focused to her left, then she hissed. "Oooh! You MEANIES!"

"_**WHAT?!**_" Pyrrha demanded.

"Urako-chan, go see what's going on! We're coming to you!" Fujiko barked.

"_Hai, Onē-san!_" Urako called back.

"What is it?!" the Mistralite demanded again.

Hinako grabbed her PAA. "Some creep is going to do nasty things to nice girls, Pyrrha-san!"

She grabbed Pyrrha, then teleported out of the room, with the other Fukushima sisters following...

* * *

_**A half-kilometre to the west...**_

Cardin Winchester sneered as he gazed balefully at the gathering of several dozen Faunus — mostly women and younger children — he and the members of his team had been able to gather during the broad sweep of the town they had made after last night's tragedy. "Stop whining, you freaks!" the leader of Team CRDL snarled. "We want answers! Our school's gone and that fucking steer Taurus was seen cutting down one of our classmates! Another one _**killed**_ one of our classmates in the Beacon Tower and Headmaster Ozpin is missing, too! You all _**had**_ to support the White Fang...!"

A finger tapped his shoulder. "Excuse Hina please, Baka-Baka-san!"

The caramel-haired huntsman yelped before he spun around...

...then he screamed in horror on seeing the living ghost now standing beside the very cute pre-teen girl who had just appeared behind him. As his own teammates Russel Thrush, Dove Bronzewing and Sky Lark exclaimed in disbelief on seeing the "dead" member of Team JNPR standing there quite ALIVE even if her clothes had radically changed to something that left next to NOTHING to the imagination and her crimson tresses now hung loose around her shoulders and down past her hips, the Mistralite shook her head. "Just give you idiots an excuse to go pick on poor people like you always do! How in Oum's Name did you all get ACCEPTED in the first place?!" she then demanded as her own evergreen eyes began to glow ominously, making Saeru Hinako gasp as she gazed wide-eyed at the older woman.

"The _**One Above the Gods**_...!"

That was one of Team CRDL's prisoners, a pretty vulpine therianthrope Hinako's age who now sported quite the shiner that had closed her left eye. Her mother was holding her; she also had bruises on her arms and left cheek. Seeing that, Pyrrha's glowing eyes went wide, then she focused on Cardin, a snarl entering her voice as it began to echo with otherworldly power. "_**WHAT IN OUM'S NAME IS THIS, WINCHESTER?! YOU DON'T GO ABUSING **_**INNOCENT PEOPLE **_**LIKE THAT!**_"

_**Tene lomher'buo, Pyrrha Nikos...!**_

Hinako looked up. "Ah! It's Pyrrha-san's time!"

"_**WHAT IS THIS SHIT?!**_" Cardin snapped back as he shakily pointed towards Pyrrha. "_**YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE **_**DEAD**_**, YOU STUPID ANIMAL-LOVER...!**_"

A hand clamped down on his shoulder, spinning him around...

"Don't swear in front of the Admiral!"

_**KK-KRACK!**_

Hinako winced as Fukushima Urako's backhand slap sent the surprised Cardin right into the far wall of the warehouse! As the prisoners gasped on seeing yet ANOTHER being dressed like the seriously cute girl who had interrupted Team CDRL's attempts at extorting information NONE of them had about the White Fang — despite Adam Taurus' recruiting efforts, many Valean Faunus wanted to live their lives in peace and do good for themselves and their families — who swatted away the arrogant rich kid like an annoying insect! Roaring on seeing his team leader abused like that, Russel shrieked, "_**YOU BITCH!**_"

His twinned fighting daggers levelled on target, sending out a volley of Dust-propelled bullets right at the chest of the Speedy Tsunami. Urako smirked as said rounds splashed harmlessly against the dark blue tidal wave insignia above her cleavage, that embossed by **浦波** in white-framed black vertical reading formation. As both Sky and Dove drew their own swords and charged, Urako gestured...

...which caused part of the wall where Cardin had crashed into to implode, allowing a titanic jet of water to surge in like a horizontal waterspout. As the brightly glowing Pyrrha gasped in awe on seeing such abilities by the reborn warship, said waterspout punched into Russel, sending the punk-like man flying right into both Sky and Dove, all three being sent flying against another far wall! As they collapsed to the floor and the "prisoners" whooped in disbelief on seeing that these strange humans — all dressed like the ultimate god-like being who saved their ancestors two millennia ago — were on their side, a certain Mistralite found herself metaphorically falling off the Beacon Tower into her new life...!

_**Nesu...DUTOR'BUO!**_

"_**TAEIM LETAM!**_" Pyrrha screamed out as her uniform morphed into a shiny gunmetal grey affair with black belt and boots, plus a black globe-like insignia on her chest, that encasing a tube with lines of energy projecting from both ends to form concentric circles above and below their origin. As the energy faded from the newly-Gifted Warper of Metal, _**Dutor'buo**_ ("_**Polarity**_"), anything that was metallic within range of her — including her schoolmates' weapons and armour — all started to shake, twist and bend, almost as if a legion of invisible mythological warriors had grabbed them to test their strength. As the "prisoners" shuddered in fearful awe at such a display of metahuman strength by the just-Gifted Mistralite, a flash of near-blinding light then blinded everyone for a moment...

"Ah, man! Pyrrha-chan, you gotta calm down!"

That made the Mistralite gasp as shocked cries of disbelief escaped some of Team CDRL's prisoners...

...before another flash of energy saw them teleported a half-kilometre away...

* * *

_**The headquarters of Renaissance Industries...**_

...where they appeared right in the main cafeteria!

"Healers, please!" Kasuga Ayumu called out as shocked cries echoed from everyone there.

Instantly, several of RI's local staff moved to swarm over the just-freed prisoners. James Ironwood, Glenda Goodwitch and Qrow Branwen also approached, they taking in the much-WILDER looking Pyrrha Nikos in her new uniform, her face twisted in a scowl as she glared at the unconscious members of Team CDRL by her feet, their battle armour twisted around, weapons snapped and clothes torn from the first exertion of the Mistralite's new electromagnetic manipulation powers. "What happened here, Miss Nikos?" the commander of Atlas' military demanded as he stared wide-eyed at the injured child that connected Saeru Hinako and Fukushima Urako with the most sacred legends of all the Faunus.

"_**PYRRHA NIKOS?!**_"

That was a totally-white, wide-eyed Winter Schnee, who had bolted up — having just recovered from what happened to Penny Polendina — to stare in disbelief at the "dead" would-be Fall Maiden...

_**KK-KLONK!**_

...before she dropped to the floor yet AGAIN in a dead faint!

"Gee, Winter-chan! You really should stop doing that!"

Everyone stared at Ayumu as she gazed at the dazed special forces officer, then Qrow laughed...

* * *

_**Two hours later, back in a certain ice-lined cove in northeast Siberia (local time: An hour after breakfast)...**_

A tired sigh escaped the native of Fukuoka who had been entrusted with direct command of Imperial Japan's largest warship over seven decades prior. "There is much good news, Admiral," Captain Ogawa Gorō stated as he sat beside his formation commander in one of the many caves granted to the crew of THG _Yonaga_ by their hosts to serve as emergency places of evacuation in case their ship was sunk while trapped here. Said cave now looked like the transformed carrier's Flag Plot, where senior staff of the fifth of the Yamato-class warships and the Sixth Naval Air Flotilla would meet to hash out plans for the future; the space was complete with tables, chairs, mounted navigation charts on magically-created blackboards, the floor covered with polar bear skin carpets covering cables connecting this particular cave with others via _Yonaga_'s relocated internal telephone network. "All divisions and departments have checked in. All crew are safe and well, all personal effects accounted for. Even better, the Shrine was relocated to Meeting Hall One." Here, the veteran pilot who had flown off THG _Akagi_ as Fujita's senior squadron boss a decade before they were brought together on_Yonaga_ shrugged. "All that's realistically missing is the ship itself, all fuel and ammunition and all her airplanes."

Hearing that, the native of Nagoya and adopted native of Hiroshima grimly nodded. "I long heard from my grandfather how merciless the Great Old Ones were all those years ago," the veteran of Tsushima who was two generations removed from magical blood pronounced. "The same tales being confirmed by our wonderful hosts since we were trapped here in Shōwa-jūrokunen. I foolishly hoped Túndra-sama would one day grant his mercy to us and allow us to leave Sano-wan to do our mission, either to return home or join our fleet mates in Yasukuni." He shook his head. "I pray Sljépjj-sensei is right and we will be released..." His dark eyes then brimmed with tears. "To learn the truth we've long denied."

"We lost the war," Ogawa breathed out. "As you and Yamamoto-taishō always predicted."

"Hai, as Isoroku-san and I always knew," Fujita affirmed.

"Now you can embrace your TRUE future, Hiroshi."

Both men turned, then rose as an ancient, blind gamájun seer came into the cave. "Sensei," Fujita affirmed as he and Ogawa both bowed to Sljépjj Z'rjéti, the elder mother of the Nest of Seers, as she took her seat across from Ogawa, moving with incredible skill thanks to her remarkable mage-sight abilities that compensated for lost eyesight, deprived her by an arrogant poacher who had been beheaded by Ogawa himself shortly after _Yonaga_'s entrapment within Sano-wan in late 1941.

"Do not be saddened by this, Hiroshi," the aged seer declared as she seemed to focus directly on the would-be commander of Operation Z. "The soul of your nest has become your chick, filled with the passion and fervour that attracted us to you and your mates all those seasons ago, then empowered by the Great Forge of the Tears of the Stars, one of whom gifted to the Protector of All Life herself..."

"Raeburn-shihan," Ogawa stated.

"Da," Sljépjj answered in Russian before continuing in her accented Japanese; languages were a very easy thing for the metamorphic avians to master. "Not to mention the other gifts of the Great Forge which blessed the Protector's adopted father and his adopted father, who fought with Master Tundra and the others to expel the Spirit Ones and the Hungry Evils from this world ages before our ancestors were hatched." As both men nodded in understanding, she grinned, flashing slightly sharpened teeth marking the influence of the earliest avians who had evolved from the dinosaurs millions of years before. "Now, your own chick is Gifted as much as the All-Seeing One was Gifted not days ago..."

"Naomi Haight-Ashbury," Fujita affirmed, shaking his head as the unreality of the moment sank in. "The living kami of USS _Long Beach_. America's first nuclear-powered surface ship." He blinked as he considered that before he gave the seer a curious look. "'All-Seeing One', Sensei?"

"Young Brent told you of the 'summer of love' when he himself was but a newborn chick after the passing of his mother, did he not?" Sljépjj wondered as she "gazed" in amusement at him.

The native of Nagoya nodded. "Yes. One of the many understandable results of that foolish war in Vietnam. The rise of the 'counterculture' movement where the children born after the Greater East Asia War strove to rise in social rebellion against the previous generations, mostly out of a simple desire to wipe away all the barriers that had divided humanity for ages." He chuckled. "Too vast a dream, never to see reality...but one must indeed admire their passion and determination."

"The All-Seeing One was touched directly by the Eternal Power of the Summer of Love when those foolish stalebloods who dominate the magicals of your would-be enemies tried to enslave her..."

"_**WHAT?!**_" both men roared as they bolted to their feet.

"Whoa! Whoa! WHOA, cool dudes! Turn off the afterburners, huh?!" a strange voice called out from the cave entrance, causing both Fujita and Ogawa to look over. "Don't worry about the freaking magical squares! The magical SPs are already sizing them up for cement overshoes!"

_Yonaga_'s operations officer then stepped into the cave. "Sumimasen, Admiral," Lieutenant Commander Kawamoto Masao of Ōchi in Shimane said, bowing. "Naomi-chan wishes to speak to you."

Fujita shuddered. "Precognitive, I would assume. Send her in, Masao-san."

"Hai, Admiral."

He stepped outside, then returned, escorting a certain adopted native of Quincy in Massachusetts and her own namesake city in California. "Peace, Grandma!" Naomi Haight-Ashbury said as she flashed the peace sign to Sljépjj before she gazed upon the would-be commander of Operation Z, her brown eyes boring into Fujita's own dark orbs for a moment. She then walked over, leaned down and kissed the admiral's balding head, causing him to gasp in shock. "Arigatō, Oji-chan."

As Ogawa and Kawamoto tried desperately NOT to laugh at the sight of their admiral being treated like a favoured grandfather by the cruiser, the elder seer chuckled as she shifted one spot to allow Naomi to sit in the place normally occupied by Fujita's senior scribe Lieutenant Hironaka Kenji or his chief administration officer Lieutenant Commander Katsube Hakuseki. Fujita sputtered for a second before iron-hard control came back, then he gave Naomi a curious look. "Why...?"

"Oh, for protecting one of my crew since he came here," the cruiser affirmed with a casual shrug.

"Brent-san sailed on you?" Ogawa demanded.

"Yeah, just before I got struck in '95. You know about that dumb war over Kuwait, don't you?"

"The First Gulf War," Fujita affirmed.

"Yeah! Brent came aboard from the ONI squares in Chocolate City..."

All three men laughed. "'Chocolate City'?!" Kawamoto, standing at the end of the table, exclaimed.

"Washington DC."

"Ah!" Fujita breathed out while trying not to laugh even more as he wondered how on Earth did the capital city of the United States got THAT nickname. "Pray continue, Naomi-san."

She nodded. "Well, as I was saying, Brent got sent to me to help figure out what Saddam's squares were doing so we can keep the black gold pumping without people paying their whole monthly wages for gas and the like." Here, her eyes twinkled. "That kinda makes him part of my 'family' as much as he became part of Yoiko's 'family' when he came here looking for his dad. So thanks for taking care of one of my crew, Uncle H." She patted the now-flustered Fujita's shoulder in emphasis.

All three men gazed on her, then Ogawa's eyes widened. "Brent-san's karma influenced your karma!" the native of Fukuoka exclaimed, making Fujita look his way. "Like ours ended up influencing Yoiko-chan's, Admiral! Given how much she knows of our inner dreams and desires...!"

"Exactly," Naomi affirmed, winking.

"So you understand our current predicament?" Fujita noted.

"Yeah, I do. And it's a downer for sure!" Here, the cruiser took a deep breath. "You people have seventy years and more to catch up on. It'd be easy to ask Papa A to put out a Rescript to let you folks go home without feeling you have to go hit the area around where Mama Ka'ahupahau crashes out tending to the sharks, putting up to Ari's oil messing things up and all that..."

All three men blinked. "Of whom do you speak of?" the admiral demanded.

"She speaks of the Lady of Sharks in the eyes of the natives of the Isles of Sawaiki, Hiroshi," Sljépjj calmly affirmed. "Her domain is centred in the very harbour that was your target seasons ago."

Fujita, Ogawa and Kawamoto nodded. "Pearl Harbour," the former affirmed, nodding in grim understanding. "Ka'ahupahau-sama is obviously the Hawai'ian counterpart to our own Ōwatatsumi-sama. My thanks for your warning me of this, Sensei." He then perked. "'Ari'?"

"USS _Arizona_, I believe, Admiral," Kawamoto warned. "Brent-san told us that all it took was one well-aimed bomb to sink her during the attack. It killed over two-thirds of her crew!"

"And became the symbol of American resolve to avenge the 'day of infamy'," the admiral completed. "One of so many things Chūichi-san did wrong!" he spat out. "Then again, should we be so surprised?"

"He was more a battlewagon boss, wasn't he?" Naomi wondered.

"Hai, he was! Made my deputy all because of _**seniority**_! I begged Shigetarō-san to NOT stick me with that baka! I would have LOVED to see Tamon-san promoted to vice admiral and make him my deputy commander; at least HE understood carrier tactics! All because of Kami-be-damned _**seniority**_...!" He made a disgusted wave of his hand before shaking his head as memories of signals bounced down from Earth's atmosphere received by _Yonaga_ during Midway replayed in his head. "Useless in kendō and believed too much in that stupid Kantai Kessen nonsense that drove development of our fleet before the war!" Here, Fujita shook his head. "So many died...on both sides...!" he quietly declared.

"Your crew need to hear that, Uncle H."

He turned to see the compassionate look coming his way from the transformed missile cruiser before he patted her hand. "You speak of Tennō Himself when you speak of 'Papa A', don't you?"

To the Japanese officers' surprise, Naomi seemed to change, becoming a very proper Navy officer before their very eyes. "It is indeed of His Most Gracious Imperial Majesty, the Heavenly Sovereign, that I speak of with that term, Admiral Fujita," she formally declared in a voice that had no hint of the casual tones of speech she had used since she came here; such instantly made all three men stiffen. "Which pleased him very much. It was to His Imperial Majesty that His Excellency the President first called when I reported to him at the White House after I dealt with those who sought to enslave me."

That made Fujita, Ogawa and Kawamoto gape. "Why would President Bartlet do something like that?" the latter immediately demanded, clearly not speaking denials about that sort of situation given the ancient orders still hanging like Damocles' sword over the heads of the crew of THG _Yonaga_.

She gestured with her hand, allowing her PAA to appear. As Kawamoto came over to stand behind his captain to see what the transformed missile cruiser was showing, the image of a wholesome Japanese teenage girl of about sixteen appeared over the focusing control crystal of that miniature computer-like device. She was in a blue-trimmed, form-fitting white bodysuit with bared arms and shoulders; seeing that sort of uniform reminded all three would-be World War Two veterans of the many "mystery men" that had appeared across the world — starting in North America, in fact — in the decade leading to that conflict. With blue belt and blue buccaneer boots, she had a blue iceberg insignia over her cleavage; that topped with a white-framed pair of black kanji in vertical format: **吹雪**.

"'_Fubuki_'?!" all three men exclaimed...

* * *

_**Back on Remnant, within the headquarters of Renaissance Industries (local time: Mid-evening)...**_

"...stupid baka-bakas hurting little helpless kids...!"

"_**AH-CHOO!**_"

Saeru Hinako yelped before she looked over. "Are you okay, Fujiko-chan?!"

A moan escaped the Blizzard of Death as she rubbed her nose, then she nodded as her sister Shirayuki handed her a tissue. "Sorry about that, Hinako-chan," the adopted native of Maizuru said before she blew her nose to clear the mucus from her nostrils. "Someone was talking about me!"

"You can sense that?!"

That was Velvet Scarlatina, who had been seated with Coco Adel, Blake Belladonna, Monica Khan, Flynt Coal, Neon Katt and Pyrrha Nikos off to one side of the office where the four members of team CRDL had been dragged to by the reborn Fubuki-class destroyers after they were healed by Kasuga Ayumu from what happened two hours ago when the four-time winner of the Mistral Regional Tournament had become the Warper of Metal. Also there were Glynda Goodwitch, James Ironwood and Isaac Thomas; all of them wanted a crack at Cardin Winchester and his mates after they had seen how the freshmen bullies had gone full-tilt after a whole group of Faunus _**civilians**_, believing them to be White Fang.

The Spirit of Innocence and her "fleet" of shipgirls got there first.

Much to Glynda's and Ironwood's amusement, the native of Niigata proved to be even MORE harsh than Beacon Academy's senior teacher or the commander of the military forces of Atlas could EVER be!

"_**AH-CHOO!**_"

As Fujiko handed her younger sister the tissue she herself had used, Isaac answered, "It's a common belief among Japanese people that if you suddenly sneeze, it means someone somewhere is speaking about you. No different than if your upper set of ears suddenly twitch, Velvet."

As the second of the Fubuki-class destroyers blew her nose, the Faunus member of Team CFVY nodded in understanding. "Do you think it was Miss Naomi who was speaking about you, Miss Fujiko?" she then asked. "Say to her king? This...'president' you told us of...?"

"Feels like Naomi-san," Shirayuki answered as a sneeze echoed from outside, one she and her sister recognized as coming from their sister Hatsue. "Wow! What's she telling Bartlet-daitōryō about?!"

"We'll probably find out soon, Shirayuki-chan," Fujiko noted. "Go look in on the others, okay?"

"Hai, Nē-sama!"

As the shipgirl with her caramel hair styled in low twintails walked out of the room, Glynda sighed. "Thank you, Miss Saeru, for those very wise words," the blonde senior huntress said as she patted the younger girl's shoulder before she glared at Cardin and his mates, all of whom tensed at that VERY disapproving look. "Indeed, I must agree with our nice guest from very far away about your actions this day, _gentlemen_...and I use that term very _**reluctantly**_ when it comes to you four!" she snapped as she put her fists to her hips, the Disciplinarian being firmly grasped by her right hand. "If this hideous act had been done when you were in classes, you would have faced EXPULSION from the Academy as a result! Much that I DO understand the anger many humans feel concerning the White Fang, that did NOT grant you the Oum-sent right to TORTURE helpless civilians, even if it was to track down Mister Taurus' supporters who faded from the scene when the Grimm attacked!"

"Professor! With all due respect...!"

"_**DO BE QUIET, MISTER BRONZEWING!**_" Glynda snapped as Hinako scowled at Dove Bronzewing, making the caramel-haired freshman wilt from both the teacher's glare and the wave of empathic power from the Spirit of Innocence. "Your mission last night was to protect the city from the Grimm! THAT WAS IT! Once it was confirmed the Grimm had retreated, you were to IMMEDIATELY aide in rescuing survivors! I have it on GOOD authority you weren't anywhere CLOSE to the Academy grounds past noon hour today!" She slapped her crop in her hand. "What in Oum's Name made you go after those people that Miss Nikos, Miss Saeru and Miss Fukushima found you with in that warehouse?!"

"We had no choice, Professor!" Sky Lark answered, trying to look as unobtrusive as possible. "We heard what happened to Nikos, Xiǎo Lóng and the Headmaster! Taurus himself was seen in the school; he's the one who chopped off Xiǎo Lóng's arm! Everyone knows how much Khan's aunt and Belladonna are buddy-buddy with that cow!" He glared at Blake for a moment, making the latter's upper ears flatten in outrage as her former lover grasped her hand. "There were over a hundred of the damned beasts on the grounds! YOU'RE the one who confirmed those numbers, Professor! Only SIXTY or so were in that warehouse when Thomas here kicked that animal's butt! Where are the rest?!"

As Glynda's green eyes lit up with outrage on sensing that these four would gladly throw in their lot with various anti-Faunus groups that had been rising in the four kingdoms in response to the White Fang's recent actions, a hand landed on her shoulder. "Relax, Professor," Ironwood said as the young huntsmen brightened; they had long heard Atlesians maintained a harsh stance to the therianthropes whose presence of Remnant had rubbed too many humans the wrong way over the years.

They were about to be disappointed, though.

"Miss Saeru," the leader of Atlas' military said as he gazed on Hinako, his voice as bone-freezing as a northern wind. "I know your empathy doesn't have the power to affect people's _**memories**_. Are there people on Yiziba who happen to have that sort of ability?"

As Cardin and his friends gasped in horror at what was now being proposed, the Spirit of Innocence hummed, her caramel eyes sparkling with an inhuman flame. "Hina knows Ayumu-chan's friend Yomi-san. She's Yiziba's top _**telepath**_! She could turn these baka-bakas into BABIES if she wanted to!"

"I say let's let Yomi-san do just that," Fujiko snarled as she crossed her arms; if the look she was sending Cardin and his friends could kill, they would all be very dead. "Racist fools like this will wreck the campaign from the inside! We DON'T need no pathetic FIFTH COLUMN stabbing us in the back!"

As the boys croaked in outrage at being accused of something like THAT, Isaac cleared his throat. "Professor, General, let me take these people off your hands," the Wise Lone Sage proposed, making Glynda and Ironwood gaze upon him. "I've had to deal with such narrow-minded fools in ALL my lifetimes since the Dawn of Power, when Ayumu's first-self BANISHED the Two Brothers out of this very DIMENSION when they moved to destroy all living creatures on this planet." As the four young men gargled in horror, the native of Queens tapped a control. "I'll have Yozora prepare quarters for these four. They'll be staying here incommunicado until they can be properly trusted again."

Glynda nodded. "Thank you, Mister Thomas," she stated before giving the four men of Team CRDL a very disapproving stare. "When Beacon reopens, I will ensure you can NEVER be invited back unless you show some HONEST contrition for today's actions, gentlemen."

"And I'll make sure you'll NEVER be accepted at Atlas in case Beacon cannot rise," Ironwood added.

With that, the senior huntsmen walked out. As Fujiko guarded the door, Isaac turned to stare at them before he shook his head. "You stupid, blind FOOLS!" the hyper-genius polymath snapped, making all four men jolt. "Much that I understand — No! I APPLAUD! — your desire to avenge the deaths of your fellow students, turning around and blaming the Faunus _**as a whole**_ for what happened last night is NOT the way to go about bringing justice for all those who were made to suffer by the monster who's ULTIMATELY responsible for this! Do you honestly believe I would _**willingly**_ recruit from that community WITHOUT making sure that Adam and his friends wouldn't try to mess things up?!"

"How can we trust YOU, Thomas?" Cardin demanded. "You're an ALIEN...!"

"He's more human than YOU are, Cardin!"

He jolted as Pyrrha bolted up, glaring at him. As Coco and Blake tried to force her down, the newly-Gifted huntress raised a shield to keep them back. "What in Oum's Name were you THINKING?! Attacking innocent CHILDREN, you arrogant dolt?!" the Mistralite demanded. "Don't you see that by pulling stunts like that on HELPLESS PEOPLE, you FEED more recruits into Taurus' stupid 'crusade'?! You're luckier than HELL that the ONE being in the whole of the MULTIVERSE whom ALL Faunus know of intervened like she did before someone DIED! EVERYONE in this city suffered from what Cinder Fall and her friends pulled, you fools! _**WHAT IN THE NAME OF OUM WERE YOU THINKING OF?!**_"

"_**WE WERE TRYING TO AVENGE YOU, PYRRHA!**_"

That was Russel Thrush, who had bolted up. Pyrrha blinked as his brown eyes teared. "Russ...?"

"Look! We don't like you, Pyrrha...but you're one of US!" the man with the quasi-Mohawk style of grey-green hair snarled, he pointing to himself. "We saw how much the headmaster doted on you in those private lessons you had!" As Pyrrha gasped, he shrugged. "It didn't take a lot for people to figure out that you were being prepared for something damned special, something that could help a lot of people when the time came! And we ALL know that Shannon Ozpin NEVER abuses any of his students!" He then waved at her as his friends also stood up to stand beside their teammate. "So what the hell happened last night, Pyrrha?! We just lost our SCHOOL! Yes, it's great that Isaac and that Mihama kid and that Kasuga girl saved you and that 'bot Ruby was crushing on, but that doesn't tell us SPIT! What the hell was Belladonna's old BOYFRIEND doing there last night, huh?! And who's this Cinder Fall chick you just mentioned?! You can't leave us all in this damned VACUUM, you know!"

The others in the room blinked, then Isaac nodded. "Hinako?"

"Hai, Isaac-san?" the native of Niigata said as she gazed at him.

"Call Shirayuki in Nagano," the native of Queens ordered. "Since it's spring vacation for you until the end of this week, we'll need help feeding people in this town until the markets are back up again."

The Spirit of Innocence nodded before she headed out of the office, followed by the first of the Fubuki-class destroyers. The Wise Lone Sage watched them go, then he turned to gaze once more on the four young men he now suspected had much more potential than he initially believed two hours ago when Fukushima Urako's report of the incident in that warehouse got to him. "As I said before, gentlemen, I applaud your desire to avenge your classmates," he said as he waved Cardin and his friends to sit down; they had been made to stand still as they got dressed down. "However, keep in mind that it's racist attitudes like yours that made the White Fang come to exist in the first place! ALWAYS keep in mind that as long as people like you — whom ALL civilians, human and Faunus alike, look up to so they can stay safe! — have such attitudes, people will ALWAYS suffer!"

He waved to the Faunus in the room. "Faunus like the good ladies here are people, too! Blake RAN AWAY from Adam Taurus when she realized how much of a MURDERER he was becoming...and she's the DAUGHTER of the founder of the White Fang! Monica here is the NIECE of the current leader of the White Fang...and she walked away from it as well, disgusted by what Adam is doing to the group as a whole! Velvet here has never ONCE wanted to hurt anyone, human OR Faunus! Neon has been through things I can't begin to describe to you...but she maintains one hell of a good attitude despite that! I can't for a MOMENT understand why is it you people get fixated on nonsense like that! Don't you dolts realize by NOW that anger and hate are two things Grimm FEED ON?!"

Silence answered him as Cardin, Russel, Sky and Dove looked anywhere but at the New Yorker. Taking a moment to gaze intently at the four boys, Isaac then sighed. "You people need to make money and get new places to live while we're waiting for the Academy to be rebuilt," he proclaimed. "To that end, you will be hired by Renaissance Industries to help with work. Put simply, we need people with field experience to develop weapons that can deal with the Grimm at an INDUSTRIAL scale for what I hope will be the FINAL war against the monster that STARTED this mess in the first place!" As the boys gaped in disbelief at him and the others stared askance at the man for moving to HIRE the four bigoted jerks as part of his staff, Isaac smirked. "Do well and I'll personally recommended your reinstatement at the Academy when it reopens to both Headmaster Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch! Agreed?!"

The four members of Team CRDL exchanged looks, then Cardin sighed. "We don't have much choice."

"Good," the Terran-turned-Yizibajohei hyper-genius polymath nodded. "Learn from this experience. I will NOT tolerate any prejudice towards your future co-workers while you're working underneath me, either the Faunus I've hired since I came here to Remnant OR the androids and gynoids I brought with me from Earth and Yiziba." As Cardin and his friends gaped at that admission, the Wise Lone Sage's eyes narrowed. "Screw up about ANYTHING — and that DEFINITELY includes revealing about the survival of Pyrrha, Penny or the Headmaster to ANYONE before I say it's time! — and I WILL have the good lady that Hinako mentioned to the general come here and turn your BRAINS into SILLY-PUTTY!"

"She can do it, by the way!" Pyrrha coolly noted.

All four boys gulped before they rapidly nodded. "Good," Isaac declared. "Now, when the time comes, those who were behind last night's fun — ALL of them — will be pounded into the dirt and forever ELIMINATED! Do well under me and you're in on the final kill! You'll be training as much as working until that day, so think of this as study time for extra credits!" As the boys gaped, he raised a finger. "Remember this: The Faunus suffer from what the Grimm do as much as humans like you.

"Focus on fighting THEM, not your fellow sentient beings!"

With that, the Wise Lone Sage and the Warper of Metal walked out of the office, leaving a quartet of gaping boys behind, they joined by a similar group of very wide-eyed peers...

_**To Be Continued...!**_

* * *

**WRITER'S NOTES**

The **Amon Clan** (_Amon-ichizoku_) are the secret bosses in the various _**Yakuza**_ video games (known in Japan by the title _Ryū ga Gotoku_ ["Like A Dragon"]). **Amon Jō** himself appeared in the first _Yakuza_ game and has been an antagonist of the lead character **Kiryū Kazuma** until _Yakuza 6_.

**Moroboshi Negako** has been a prominent character in Fred's writing since the days of _The Senior Year_. She first appeared there as a body-less sentience simply calling itself the **Saikō Jinseijutsu** ("Way of the Supreme Life") in the story "Spirit-War Tomobiki"...and she would become human in that series in the story "Children of Eternity".

Translation list: **Shihan** — Martial arts school grandmaster; **Taeim letam** — Let the Show begin; **Shōwa-jūrokunen** — Sixteenth Year of Shōwa (the year 1941 CE); **Taishō** — Navy admiral/Army general/Air Force air chief marshal; **SP** — Shore Patrol, the Navy version of the Army military police concept; **ONI** — Office of Naval Intelligence.

_RWBY_ character notes: **Winter Schnee** first appeared in "It's Brawl in the Family" (volume three, episode three); her actual rank in the military of Atlas was not revealed. **Cardin Winchester** and **Russel Thrush** first appeared in the first part of "The First Step" (volume one, episode three). **Dove Bronzewing** and **Sky Lark** first appeared in "Players and Pieces" (volume one, episode eight).

**Penny Polendina**'s "proper" name of "Persephone" was inspired by a fan art of hers done by **dishwasher1910**, which can be seen on Danbooru at post #3240047.

_The Seventh Carrier_ character notes: By the time of the first story, _Yonaga_'s captain **Ogawa Gorō** had passed away; naturally, thanks to the advantages of the place where the ship had been trapped for so long, he would survive. **Kawamoto Masao** first appeared in the original story.


	8. A Day For Gifts

**DISCLAIMER: Concurrent with fair dealing clauses of the **_**Copyright Act **_**(R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42) of Canada and fair use clauses in copyright legislation in other nations, this is a work that was created solely for entertainment purposes. Furthermore, it is posted freely on the Internet without expectation or requirement of remuneration.**

* * *

_**Vale, the headquarters of Renaissance Industries, next morning at dawn (Tōkyō time: Tuesday afternoon, an hour before supper; Petropávlovsk-Kamchátskij time: Two hours after supper)...**_

It was the rather sweet music echoing from the nearby kitchen that work Blake Belladonna up.

Blinking as her golden-brown eyes adjusted to the low light, the native of Menagerie grunted as she moved to sit up in the bed she shared with Monica Khan overnight. The bedroom in question was in the top floor of the completed renovated warehouse, with a nice picture window opening to the south and the forest beyond the Beacon River. Smiling as her old lover mewed contently while still asleep — after the last two days' fun, the two had just collapsed in bed sometime after nightfall — the daughter of the founder of the White Fang smirked as she moved to dress, grateful that there was enough outside light allowed her to see without the need of using her excellent night vision to get dressed.

Her upper ears then perked as a soft voice echoed with the music...

_Kyō__ha oshaberi ne kitto nanika  
__Ikoto ga atta desho kikasete.  
__Isogashikute mo jikan awasete tabeyō...!_

_Futari kakomu table ha ichinichi no owari no happy.  
__Tumaranakatta koto baka na hanashi mo futari de share shiyō...!_

Walking out of the bedroom, she found herself in a mini-lounge. The top floor of Renaissance Industries had been set aside for quarters for those people who didn't have homes or had been driven out of them for whatever reason. Right now, most of the hunters who had been attending Beacon were recovering from the previous two days' excitement in this building. Naturally, Vale's leadership were personally grateful to Isaac Thomas, who had ordered a battalion's worth of Robot Masters — humanoid combat machines armed with the latest weapons designed by the Wise Lone Sage and his army of replicant scientists — deployed two nights before to deal with the nearly-endless swarm of attacking Grimm unleashed by Cinder Fall; doing that turned a potential holocaust into something that was more run-of-the-mill for Remnant these days. Considering that, Blake tensed as her stomach growled out the need for immediate nourishment, then she headed over to the small kitchenette.

Working there was a mauve-haired woman in her early teens, dressed in normal clothes with a kitchen apron draped over her. Understandably mistaking the cat ear-like black protrusions at the top of her head as actual ears marking this girl as Faunus, Blake's nose then flared to pick up the slight mineral tincture in the other girl's scent marking her a native of the world whose other residents had come over the past few months to bring MIRACLES to a long-suffering world. Realizing that the "cat ears" on the young chef were simply a bandana just tied that way, she tensed as her stomach croaked again on her smelling the LARGE amount of food laying on nearby tables. Blake walked up to one, hand reaching out for what looked like enough tuna salad sandwiches to feed a THOUSAND Faunus like her...

"Dame desu no!"

The native of Menagerie yelped as a pair of amethyst eyes focused on her. "Those are for those poor people those silly boys hurt yesterday, Blake-san," the native of Nagoya who had come to Remnant at the invite of the Wise Lone Sage via the Spirit of Innocence declared as she wagged a gloved finger at the former terrorist. "Hime's making your breakfast right now. You sit over there and have some juice." She pointed to an empty table nearby. "The juice has all the vitamins you need because you didn't have a nice snack last night before you and Monica-san had your pillow scene." As Blake awked at what this younger girl said — she knew now what THAT phrase meant — the chef turned back to her cooking.

"'Morning..."

Blake turned as an older woman stepped into the kitchen. "Velvet," she said with a polite nod as the Faunus member of Team CFVY came into the room, her own stomach grumbling for nourishment.

"Hi, Blake..."

Suddenly, Velvet Scarlatina's nose twitched wildly as a wonderful symphony of scents assaulted her senses, then she literally seemed to teleport over to stand behind the chef...

_**SMACK!**_

"Velvet-san! You sit with Blake-san and have some juice!" the chef scolded after smacking the older girl's hand with her spoon, making the Valean yelp as she nursed her hand. "Hime will have your carrot cake done as soon as the other cakes are ready! Now, be a good girl and SIT!"

Yelping at that imperious command, Velvet seemed to teleport immediately over to her chair at the table the chef pointed at. Blake stared at her, then she shrugged as she moved to take her own seat. "Why are you cooking cake for Velvet?" the native of Menagerie then asked.

"It's not any cake, Blake-san," the young chef stated. "It's her pre-Gifting snack combined with a nutritious breakfast for growing girls like you! Hime heard from Isaac-san that you like tuna, so Hime brought some fresh South Ring Ocean nadosu for you to eat! It's full of protein to let you regain your strength from what that silly boy Adam did to you after he was so mean to poor Yáng-san! Just as the nice polar memr'bem I got for Velvet-san will help her recover as well! Using her gifts to make all those weapons would drain even someone from Yiziba, so Hime wants to make sure she gets the right Gift so she can support Coco-san, Fox-san and Yatsuhashi-san when they go beat up those silly Grimm!"

Both native women blinked away as they took that in...

* * *

_**In the main office, minutes later...**_

"She's HERE?!"

"Yes, Isaac," Mikazuki Yozora declared as she bowed apologetically to her creator. "Shirayuki teleported in from Earth about two hours ago with bags full of food from Yiziba, then started to cook for everyone. There's enough food to feed all the people who were hurt by Cardin and his friends yesterday; she's making pre-Gifting snacks now in combination with breakfast for the huntsmen."

Moaning, the Wise Lone Sage rolled to his feet. Not bothering with his cape, the native of Queens headed out of his main work office in Vale, then headed to the nearest stairwell; said office was on the third of four above-ground floors in the old warehouse. Yozora locked his office after he left, then followed him to the top floor. "I don't think Shirayuki is moving to pre-Gift everyone in Vale, Isaac..."

"Doing something like that would be a 'slow Tuesday' to someone like her, Yozora," he answered the pretty raven-haired gynoid as he marched into the hallway leading to the various lounges for people who had taken residence on the top floor, moving right away to where his goggles' scanners were now detecting the Great Chef of the West, _**Syuosekuo**_ ("_**Küchenchefin**_"), was currently busy. Noting the presence of a good number of people he wanted to see Gifted, he picked up his pace.

Already seated at the table being shared with Blake Belladonna and Velvet Scarlatina, Coco Adel was shuddering in near-orgasmic joy as her nose — which wasn't as hypersensitive as her two Faunus schoolmates — picked up the sheer GORGEOUS scent of freshly-baked chocolate and fruit coming from one of the two ovens there. Also anxiously awaiting the chance to try out Osamu Shirayuki's wonderful cooking were the other members of Team CFVY, though Fox Alistair and Yatsuhashi Daichi weren't reacting to the heavenly smells emanating from where the young chef was working. As they waited, several normal workers in Renaissance Industries were taking the trays of sandwiches to where the refugees that had been forced to stay here over the last two days were quartered in lower floors...

"_**DAME DESU NO!**_"

Shirayuki shrieked on hearing that snapped bark, then she turned to glare intently at Isaac. "_**ISAAC-SAN!**_" she snapped, putting her fists to her hips. "_**ARE YOU STEALING HIME'S **_**SCRIPT LINES**_**?!**_"

As the natives gaped in shock, Isaac sighed. "Shirayuki-chan, much that I am BEYOND grateful that you're taking time from your spring break to help out here, but you can't pre-Gift ALL OF VALE!"

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

Then...

The Great Chef of the West blinked several times, then she nearly doubled over in laughter as footfalls heralded the arrival of another very young metahuman. "Oh, Isaac-san! There you go! You're being _**silly**_ again!" Saeru Hinako snapped as she stared at him from nearby, making the New Yorker blush at that sharp statement from the Spirit of Innocence. "Shirayuki-chan won't do something silly like that! Everyone KNOWS what could happen if too many people get Gifted at once, you know!"

Escorting her was the fourth of the Fukushima sisters. "Er...what does happen, Hinako-chan?" Fukushima Miyuki asked as she gazed warily at the woman who helped "salvage" her.

"Destructo-sensei might come, Miyuki-chan!"

That made the reborn destroyer who considered herself an adopted native of Yokosuka wince. She had known from the start that her present body was first moulded five millennia before in the "Second Great Expulsion", when the second version of the Healer of Destruction, _**Batae Erba**_ ("_**Doctor Destructo**_"), emerged from the Great Crystal of Power to drive the Goa'uld off the planet in answer to their attempts at what would later come to be called "Gift thievery". During that time, the new incarnation of Yiziba's first true metahuman — a woman that time — created a virtual ARMY of synthetic battle dolls similar to what the first version of Infinity would create three millennia later, though they would be powerful and durable enough to go into space to deal with the Goa'uld fleet. Thanks to the first generation battle dolls being infused by massive doses of power from the Great Crystal, they were able to unleash a level of devastation on the enemy that would weaken the "children of the gods" to the point where they had to spend CENTURIES trying to rebuild themselves to the levels they had achieved prior.

"Desu no!" Shirayuki asserted with a nod before she turned back to monitor the several cakes she had cooking in the oven right now. As Monica Khan came in to sit down beside Blake while wondering what was going on, the native of Nagoya hummed, her eyes sparkling. "Still, Hime liked it when Isaac-san asked Hime to come to Remnant! Hime is going to get the chance to feed a whole KINGDOM!"

Isaac paled. "Shirayuki...!"

"Hime's going to make very, very, very sure that everyone will be as fit as the Nameless on Yiziba..."

"_**YOU CAN'T DO THAT!**_"

"You HUSH, Isaac-san!" she snapped...before a disappointed look crossed her face as she checked the rice she was cooking. "Hime couldn't pre-Gift everyone here anyway!" she lamented with a sigh.

That made him come up short. "Huh...?"

"It's true, mate."

He turned as the Master of Plants came in. "Why?" Isaac asked of Neville Longbottom.

The native of Holdenhurst in Devonshire headed over to make some tea. "The soil has been poisoned too much by the Grimm over the years, Isaac," Neville warned as Shirayuki handed him a cup to use. "You ever wonder how easy it is for those things to operate even in 'cleared' areas like that? That death-cheater the headmaster used to date left bits of contaminated soil all over the place — even here in town itself where it's supposed to be 'safe' — to allow her to teleport those bloody dementor knock-offs in wherever she wanted to." As all the natives cried out in horror on hearing that, Neville raised his hand. "There is a tonne of GOOD news in this, though!" he clearly called out.

Isaac blinked. "What's that?"

"Hinako-chan isn't the ONLY one who likes to smell mist dandelions, Isaac-san!"

That was Shirayuki, who was gazing knowing at the older man. Considering that as the others in the room still blinked in confusion, Isaac then slumped. "_**Ayumu**_...!"

"Oh, what did Ōsaka-san do NOW, Isaac-san?"

He turned as Mihama Chiyo came into the room, moving to adjust her tenné brown hair in their normal teardrop-shaped ponytails before she would make some tea for herself. "Ayumu once again proves that under that narcoleptic exterior of hers, there lies one SHARP cookie, Chiyo-chan!"

That made the Bright Genius of the Young Guns blink in confusion...

* * *

_**That moment, somewhere in Hokkaidō...**_

"_**AH-CHOO!**_"

Everyone — save one ninjutsu grandmaster — yelped on hearing that sneeze escape the Goddess Who Walks Among Men. "Someone is speaking of you right this moment, Ayumu," Moroboshi Negako calmly stated as she enjoyed the wonderful local tea that a smiling Amon Noa had prepared for her.

Kasuga Ayumu moaned as Noa's cousin Amon Shin handed her a handkerchief. "Ah! Thanks, Shin-kun!" the native of Wakayama breathed out before blowing her nose. She gazed up towards the ceiling of the main meeting hall. "Oh, it was Isaac-kun that was talking about me."

"Concerning?" Negako pressed.

"Neville-kun told him why I had to spread those mist dandelions all over Vale."

That made the bruised Neo Politan — who insisted on allowing her own body's healing abilities to rid her of the bruises several sharp bouts she fought all morning and afternoon with Amon Jō had left her; doing that had earned her a tonne of respect from her hosts — blink. "What's wrong?" the once-mute mercenary from Remnant asked. "I know that Neville's Vinclozolin..."

"Remnant's soil is too badly poisoned because of that Salem creep, Neo-chan," Ayumu explained. "You ever wonder how is it those dorky Grimm always pop up whenever people are walking around, even in 'safe' places? The soil's got too much naquadah inside it which got spread around when Ayono-ojichan had to get rid of those two Ori who pretended to be Remnant's gods two sagas ago while the Dawn of Power was happening. That lets the Grimm literally _**teleport**_ themselves in to cause trouble!"

As a pale Neo gaped in horror as the true scale of what her people had been made to face over the centuries sank in, the leader of the Amon shook his head in sheer disgust. "I hope Isaac-kun has a plan to deal with such a yōma!" Jō snapped, his fists clenching in outrage.

"It's still in first draft stage, Oji-chan! Don't worry, though. Folks like Chiyo-chan, Shirayuki-chan, Hinako-chan and Neville-kun are there to make sure Isaac-kun doesn't over-complicate things." Here, Ayumu moaned. "Man! No wonder Margo-chan got upset when Isaac-kun came up with such a dorky idea to save Ozpin-kōchōsensei and Pyrrha-chan two days ago! Actually going and FREEZING TIME for a moment to yank out Pyrrha-chan before that Cinder Fall creep moved to disintegrate her and put up a synthetic target instead?" She shook her head. "Way, WAY too complicated!"

"So Nikos is alive?" Neo asked.

"Hai! So is Penny-chan!"

That made the mercenary perk. "That titemyu that Rose was crushing on?"

"Hai!" Here, Ayumu sighed. "Poor Ruby-chan..."

"What is the issue, Ayumu-san?" Jō asked.

"It seems that young Ruby has inherited a Gift — almost on OUR scale — that allows her to destroy those Grimm wholesale, Master Jō," Leno Lu'umlo answered for Yiziba's most powerful metahuman. As Negako gazed intently at him, the Mad Prophet of the Future smirked. "During the battle in and around the Beacon Academy two nights ago, she unleashed her Gift at the moment Mistress Pyrrha 'died', which was enough to literally FREEZE a local wyvern moving to destroy a teleportation unit housed at the school." As Neo gaped, he smirked. "It was is as large as any Terran dragon species you might be aware of, my friend." Here, a churlish smile crossed the face of the reborn socialist preacher.

"Son of a bitch...!" Neo exhaled before she whistled. "Does she...?" Here, the once-mute mercenary blinked. "Oh, damn! She has _**Silver Eyes**_! No wonder she could clobber something that big!"

"Isaac is moving to wait until she is ready for a Gifting," Leno added.

"Are you going to interfere?" Jō asked.

"Please don't."

That was Ayumu, who was gazing knowingly at the native Yizibajohei. Leno blinked before he sighed. "No, I won't interfere with Miss Ruby. I'm sure there are others who could benefit from my offers."

Secret smiles crossed the faces of the others in the room at Leno's reply, even Negako's. No doubt, the Mad Prophet of the Future had turned away from such a course out of a desire to NOT face the Infinite One for "butting into another person's fight scene", which was seen as a major faux pas among Yizibajohei as a whole. At that point, Jō finished his tea. "So, young Neo-kun. How do you feel now?" he wondered as he gazed intently at the late Roman Torchwick's chief assistant.

A smile answered him. "It's no wonder the Padre called you the greatest assassin on this planet, Master Jō. Even with the knowledge I inherited from my past-selves, I never stood a chance."

A delighted cackle answered her as Negako nodded in agreement. "To be fair to you, Neo-kun, you did FAR better than I initially expected. And it's good that your own native 'semblance' and 'aura' abilities weren't taken from you when you were Gifted. Your ability to fade and move invisibly to a new position to attack must have served you well in your battle against this Taurus fellow." As Neo scowled on hearing the name of the current field leader of the White Fang, Jō nodded. "As of this point, Neo Politan, you are the newest member of the Amon-ichizoku," he then proclaimed, which made all the others in the room brighten, with Noa whooping in delight. "Your training will make what most people would consider immensely harsh to be a cakewalk in comparison."

Here, his dark eyes sparkled. "I have seen, fought and trained mighty warriors over the years, young lady. When I am finished with you, you will be able to count yourself among them!"

She gazed back at him, her mismatched eyes sparkling as images of her sinking dirks into the bodies of Cinder Fall and her friends, then Salem herself, flashed before her mind's eyes. "Sounds like fun."

* * *

_**Minutes later...**_

"So you have not seen Tariko all this time?"

"Not for quite a number of storylines, Mistress Negako," the Mad Prophet of the Future said with a sigh as he walked with the Earth Angel and the Infinite One towards the main gate of the Amon Clan compound before they would teleport away. "I know she is alive; her PAA is still in her bedroom at her cabin outside Kabe-koli. The last entry in her _Book_ is dated from mid-September last year as you would tell time here on Earth. As to where she could have gone, I simply cannot say."

That made Moroboshi Negako hum. As she was effectively a physical clone of the long-missing Tariko Katabarbe (_née_ Moroboshi Ataru), she had reasons to be concerned as to the younger woman's current whereabouts. Yes, there had been many times when the would-be Trickster of the Show who had innocently launched Earth's second Age of Metahumans with such a bang over a decade ago would disappear for a while before re-emerging and returning to her country cabin on Yiziba's northern polar continent; that was where she had been raised by her spiritual TRUE mother (until Ayone Katabarbe's death by heartbreak) after fleeing a loveless home in Tomobiki outside Tōkyō proper...

Wait...

_**Tomobiki...?**_

"Ayumu, have you been able to sense into Tomobiki recently?"

That made Kasuga Ayumu perk before she blinked as she considered that. "No! Haven't really thought of looking towards there. Schoolwork and other things get in my way all the time." She then blinked. "Hey, wait a minute! The last two girls that Tariko-chan wrote about in the _Book_ were from Tomobiki! Inu Chigaiko-chan and Tsuruya Rumiko-chan! I don't know if they were Gifted, but..."

"Actually, Shihan-sama, we could look into this."

Negako gazed upon Amon Shin, who had been escorting them off the property. "Yes, that would be a good thing," the current Steward of the Moroboshi Clan of Mutsu — responsible for administering the family's assets in the name of Tariko's late grandmother Moroboshi Nagaiwakai until the new matriarch came of age — mused. "Shin, be VERY cautious," she then bade as she gazed on the raven-haired assassin, making him instantly stiffen at that warning from Earth's first true artificial intelligence. "It would have taken much in the way of power to entrap Tariko in Tomobiki — IF she is there, of course — without triggering her Gifting ahead of time. If someone in Japan or anywhere on Earth is responsible, they clearly must be acting in a way to keep her presence there completely hidden."

He considered that before his eyes widened. "The alien invasion from October?!"

"What alien invasion?!" Leno demanded.

"The Urusians," Negako answered.

That made the Mad Prophet of the Future blink before a look of disgusted outrage crossed his face as his own fists clenched. "_**THEM?!**_" he exclaimed, spinning on Negako. "You actually are moving to _**abase**_ yourselves before the likes of THEM?! Mistress Negako, they've been wrecked once...!"

"Redet Lum is the second entry in _The Book of Pretty Girls_, Leno."

That caused the reborn socialist preacher to screech to a halt. "Tariko actually saved an UMALE?!"

"Calm down, Leno-kun!" Ayumu said, waving the older man down. "After I got Gifted, some dork caught Lum-chan in the Terrible Swamps near her home outside Onishuto and put a POWER-DAMPENING COLLAR on her!" As Leno gasped in horrified disbelief — even if he saw the natives of the fourth world of Oniboshi over forty light-years from Earth as nothing more than "umale" who deserved to eventually go _**extinct**_, he would NEVER care to hear of ANY metahuman being forced to LOSE his/her abilities — the native of Wakayama added, "It was a good thing I heard her all the way from Yiziba! Tariko-chan and I went there to see what was going on, I zapped Lum-chan with an Infinite Wave and it was all taken care of!" She then gave him a stern look. "Sure, the Urusian leaders are all dorks! But Tariko-chan would NEVER go for something like what we did to them twenty-seven miniseries ago!"

A disgusted snort answered her. "Do not be sure of THAT, young lady!"

In a flash of energy, he vanished. "Ai-cha...!" Shin hissed.

"Do not concern yourself, Shin," Negako stated as she stared intently at him. "Have Tomobiki investigated when you can do so. Be CAUTIOUS in doing it for the reasons I just explained to you. Do not bother Neo concerning this; she needs to concentrate on more important things."

He nodded. "Hai, Shihan-sama! We'll contact you via the usual routes if we learn something."

"You have my thanks."

With that, Ayumu gently squeezed her friend's arm, then they teleported away...

* * *

_**An hour later, back in Vale (local time: An hour before breakfast)...**_

"Good morning, everyone."

Hearing that calm voice, people looked over, then Coco Adel whooped. "Professor!"

Shannon Ozpin chuckled as he adjusted his glasses, though he didn't resist as several of the female huntsmen who had gathered in this lounge to await some good food embraced him; seeing the current incarnation of the Undying Warrior Sage of Remnant back on planet was enough to brighten the days of many people there. "There, there, people," he said after Blake Belladonna hugged him. "I have to say from what I saw of the Academy grounds before coming here, you all performed splendidly two nights ago. Despite certain issues..." — a scowl crossed his face as he gazed at the smaller pile of sandwiches Osamu Shirayuki made for normal people — "...you should all be proud of your performance."

Delighted blushes crossed people's faces at that profound compliment...even if some knew it would have been MUCH worse hadn't their current host intervened like he did behind the scenes. "How long before the Academy is reopened, Professor?" Yatsuhashi Daichi asked.

A sigh escaped Ozpin as he sat down before he blinked as a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows was placed before him by a smiling Shirayuki. "Thank you, Miss Osamu," he said with a nod of thanks. "It will be a while, Mister Daichi. We have to gain intelligence on what Salem plans to do now. Atop that, with Miss Rose having just woken this morning, the 'diversion' she'll perform with Mister Arc, Miss Valkyrie and Mister Len can start. I assume Miss Schnee has returned to Atlas, Miss Belladonna?"

"She flew out after midnight last night with her sister," Blake responded as Monica Khan squeezed her hand in reassurance. "Once I'm ready to go, I'll head over to Patch to help Yáng get back on her feet. I'll hold off on making the 'sales pitch' until Ruby and the others are on their way to Mistral," she added with a raised hand as the headmaster gazed knowingly at her. "Once that's all done, we can go down to Menagerie to meet with my parents and Monica's aunt, then keep Adam nice and tamed."

"If that's even possible," Monica snidely added.

Rueful chuckles filled the room...before a low buzzing noise echoed from an alarm located by one of the ovens. Shirayuki perked on hearing that, then she headed over to gaze inside the lit-up space, her amethyst eyes narrow as she used her powers to scan the cakes she just made before she nodded. "Desu no!" she declared as she turned off the oven, then moved to get protective gloves on to draw out the food. "All nice and warm for people to enjoy! Hinako-chan, could you get more juice, please?"

"Hai, Shirayuki-chan!"

As Saeru Hinako headed to a refrigerator to pull out large jugs of juice to have them passed around with the help of the Fukushima sisters to everyone, Shirayuki moved to extract the cakes she just made. The incredible mixture of smells — chocolate, vanilla, many types of fruit and vegetables, fish and other sea foods, chicken and other forms of fowl — made the young huntsmen shudder in delight as they waited for the Great Chef of the West to present her current round of culinary masterpieces to them. Off to one side, the already-Gifted huntsmen from Mistral and Atlas could only smile in anticipation. Much that the non-Gifted natives couldn't really sense it now, but Penny Polendina and Pyrrha Nikos could tell that all the various types of food used here had been brought straight from Yiziba, which would help compensate for the gross LACK of mesonium in Remnant's biosphere needed to ensure the Giftings would happen without much in the way of what Isaac Thomas called "post-Gifting shock".

Once all the cakes had been inspected by the native of Nagoya, service began. "First, to Blake-san!" Shirayuki announced as she brought one cake over. "A nice mixture of nadosu, tuor'besam and mixed vegetables, all for a growing girl. This should make your hair nice and shiny for when Hime can make your wedding cake after you marry Monica-san and Yáng-san!" she declared with a wink.

Blake exclaimed in mortified shock from the young chef's words while Monica found herself humming thoughtfully and the others in the room laughed as they toasted the Faunus member of Team RWBY. Next came the niece of the current leader of the White Fang. "Hime heard Monica-san likes salmon and pork, so Hime made a nice mixture of North Ring Ocean rati with western equatorial continent yoku to go with some fresh ekedu since you like strawberries as well! Wait your chance!"

The dark-skinned feline therianthrope was practically drooling. "Salmon, warthog AND strawberries?!"

More laughter from the others as Shirayuki headed back to the counter. "Velvet-san gets a nice cake full of chopped memr'bem with mulched padu and tamsam, all mixed in a perfect flour made of ripe dutonae from the southern polar continent!" she announced as she brought over the cake for the Faunus member of Team CFVY. "Sharp eyesight is always important."

Velvet Scarlatina squealed, her body swaying to and fro as she grasped her fork and knife, ready to dive in. "Wait, Velvet-san!" Shirayuki scolded before heading back to the table. "For Coco-san, we have Hime's perfect rendition of Tariko-san's own special black forest cake! It's made of fresh southern polar continent tyuotutosete with layers of yuoguo fruit and sauce, perfectly whipped cream taken from northern polar continent rimyuo milk, all in a lean batter of r'buonyato mixed with tuor'besam and a nice touch of western equatorial continent hoguor'bo to give it that really sweet taste!"

Coco was virtually glistening with anticipation. "_**Cake**_...!"

"And it WON'T add inches to your waist!" the young chef added.

An ear-splitting squeal escaped the leader of Team CFVY, which made Fox Alistair wince. "Dame desu no!" Shirayuki scolded. "Don't shout like that! You hurt Fox-san's ears when you do that, Coco-san!"

The native of Vale winced as her freshman initiation training partner reached over to pat her shoulder in reassurance. Now the female member of Team FNKI was up to be served. "Hime made a slightly different version of Blake-san's cake for Neon-san!" Shirayuki announced as she brought over a beautiful tuna-vanilla-and-vegetable cake, which had a top layer of dark cherries baked in. "Neon-san likes cherries, so she gets a big serving of northern polar continent yuoguo for today!"

"Thank you!" Neon Katt crooned. "Are you single?!"

"Neon!" Flynt Coal cried out. "She's just a KID!"

"Hai, Flynt-san's right!" Shirayuki lamented with a slight rocking of her head while she headed back to the counter. "Hime's too young for pillow scenes!"

Seated nearby, Hinako's nose scrunched. "Hina doesn't WANT to think of mushy stuff!"

The locals all gaped, then Flynt moaned, his head drooping. "_**Aliens**_...!"

Everyone gazed on the Atlesian dust trader's son, then laughter filled the room...

* * *

_**That moment, back on Earth in a certain hidden Siberian ocean cove...**_

"Oh, Amaterasu-ōmikamisama, you were so beautiful this day..."

Well into the first watch that covered the four hours before midnight — it was now astronomical twilight over Sano-wan, the Sun having set sometime ago over the west-southwest horizon — the seventh carrier of Operation Z stood outside the ice barrier that had trapped her since the day that earthquake imprisoned her crew for an exile that would last over SEVENTY-ONE years.

Rising after prostrating herself in the direction of the Sun in respects to the Queen of the Kami and the ancestress of Japan's ruling dynasty, Itō Yoiko turned to kneel again, this time facing the North Pole and the ancient natural kami that effectively arranged for her transformation fifteen hours before. "Mighty Túndra, Oldest of All, this unworthy one thanks Thee for Your Benevolence and Your Patronage with the Great Spirit of the Universe that granted my warrior spirit a proper shell to fight the threats looming over the domains of You and Your Brother Great Old Ones, all who protected the ancestors of humanity from the dire threats of the demons who wished to see Mother Earth burn," she intoned as she prostrated towards the living spirit of the Emperor of the Arctic. "This unworthy one hopes You would reach out to Your Brother Great Old Ones to allow the warrior spirits of my fleet mates and my peers around the world to rise from the deep and help shield our shared Mother as one."

Closing her eyes as she mentally prayed to the Kami to entreat of all the Great Old Ones to do just that, the adopted native of Maizuru relaxed in seiza, interlacing her fingers in her lap as she allowed her mind to meditate. Being effectively born from the dreams and hopes of THOUSANDS beyond her beloved crew who shaped her as she was built in Special Dock No. 1 — which was filled in once it was flooded and her hull towed to the fitting out jetty after her christening on 15 August 1940, exactly one week after her "eldest" sister THG _Yamato_ was launched at the Kure yards near Hiroshima — her very soul had been moulded and shaped by those dreams and hopes to make her as she was today.

First, there was the nationalist, militarist-driven fervour that saw her planned initially as an extended version of the Yamato-class with an extra turret mounting three more Type 94 naval guns in "X" position. The decision to rebuild her as the ultimate aircraft carrier, carrying a whole AIR FLOTILLA of a hundred and forty combat planes in her hull, both armoured to make her a virtual fortress at sea and powered to match the speed of the fleet carriers then in commission despite her displacing over TWICE the size of ships like THG _Akagi_ or THG _Kaga_! Building her in top secrecy at Maizuru, whose small bay forced her to be simply floated out of dry dock on her christening in 1940. The speed by which she was constructed in comparison to her sisters, helped at the order of the greatest of Japan's magical warriors, the Dark Lady of the Orient herself, to make her a potent addition to the plans to rip down the useless Statute of Secrecy and force humanity to live as one society; such had been provoked by the dawn of the Metahuman Age coinciding with the Great Depression. The decision to name her _Yonaga_, poetically meaning "Eternal Era", as a way to throw off Western spies and leave them floundering as to what type of ship she was. The extraordinary decision to make _Yonaga_'s crew DISAPPEAR into the abyss of Unit 731 of the Imperial Army, a stunning measure given the long, deep and bloody rivalry between the Empire's main combat arms...but unbelievably successful none the less. Then the voyage north to Sano-wan, discovered by personnel of _Yonaga_'s host unit — who, admittedly, wanted to seek places to launch plague-filled balloon bombs on America if deemed necessary — and named in tribute to Unit 731's chief liaison, Colonel Sano Akira, who made the discovery. Said discovery being enhanced due to the sheer WINDFALL of diamond and ruby mesonium deposits in the soil and the surrounding glaciers, never mind the wonderful geothermal port at the inner end of the cove which could be tapped into for auxiliary power as the crew worked up and prepared themselves to climb Mount Niitaka.

Then came the twenty-eighth day of September in 1941...

An earthquake struck northeast Siberia at that time, one powerful enough to jar loose the glaciers at the mouth of the cove, sending them crashing down to block the entrance of Sano-wan opening to the Arctic Ocean beyond. Such had killed Colonel Sano and his crew, who had used a midget submarine to locate the bay; they had been preparing to head back to Japan and relay orders from Fujita Hiroshi to his subordinate Nagumo Chūichi aboard _Akagi_ concerning the final tweaks on Operation Z. The horror and panic that flooded _Yonaga_'s crew at that awful moment; because of the layers of secrecy covering the fifth of the Yamato-class ships and her location in Soviet territory, there was no way to send an SOS to Japan to get a ship north to blast her clear so she could carry out the mission without launching a two-front war against ALL the Allies along the way. But the crew's training — which was extraordinary since the veteran of Tsushima put in overall charge of Operation Z to lead the attack on Pearl Harbour hand-picked most of his flagship's officers and senior petty officers to give _Yonaga_ that extra fighting chance to compensate for lack of experience — kicked in. Survival became the name of the game. Measures were taken to preserve all fuel and perishables while a couple holes were blasted through the glaciers to see the carrier's whaleboats sent out for fishing duties. By the time the actual call to commit the attack was transmitted from Imperial Navy headquarters in December — along with a "Z" code that was the official sign to commission THG _Yonaga_ as a ship of the Imperial Navy — a steady stream of fish, local cloudberry fruit and sea plants were flowing from the Chúkchi Sea and the area of the Bering Strait to keep everyone in perfect shape; such was augmented by daily calisthenics drills for all crew on the flight deck, topped by constant battle stations training covering everything from launching and recovering airplanes to fighting the ship itself in times of total darkness and power failure.

While the transmissions received over shortwave concerning the "day of infamy" brightened everyone's hopes that the war would be short and swift, future transmissions — especially after the heart-wrenching debacle of Midway — sickened everyone to the point that Fujita came to realize the war was now one of annihilation. And given America's resources and the sheer volcano of rage that resulted from the attack on Pearl Harbour, it would take the Kami themselves to save their homeland.

Then came the fifteenth day of August in 1945...

Yoiko clearly recalled the levels of outrage when HIS voice echoed over shortwave in what came to be called the _Daitōa-sensō __Shūketsu __no Shōsho_, the Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the Greater East Asia War. Recognized by her junior navigation officer — whose overall clan had served the Imperial Family for a millennia and more as the Heavenly Sovereign's hidden eyes and ears on society as a whole — the news was met with a tsunami of denials and disbelief. In the way of thinking that ran through the hearts of the warriors of Japan in that time period, there was simply NO WAY that the _**Heavenly Sovereign**_ of all people would call for SURRENDER of all things! Clearly, that "Rescript" was some sort of foul TRICK by the Americans — or worse, the _Soviets_! — to make loyal soldiers of the Empire lay down their arms, thus leave their homeland vulnerable to vengeful attacks by the Allies.

Then over time...sober realization sank in.

As years became decades and the hopes of freeing _Yonaga_ from her prison ended up becoming hinged on prayers for another Kami-sent earthquake — or the benevolent intercession of Earth's oldest sentient being, whose presence in the region had been properly confirmed by many new friends the carrier's crew had made in those long decades — people began to think about what they had overheard during those three-and-a-half years of violent conflict called the "Greater East Asia War". Shortwave was still a viable form of communication to all the nations, with messages heard in the clear thanks to _Yonaga_'s receivers; their part of the Arctic region wouldn't be struck by what recently was called "climate change" until a decade ago. The horrors of more war — none of which had involved Japan, quite ironically! — though it hadn't progressed to the outbreak of the long-feared "World War Three", fuelled by the dreaded nuclear weapons that supposedly made their appearance days before the "Jewel Voice Broadcast". Radical, _**revolutionary**_, social change in nations, Japan included, in the 1960s, mostly as a response of the rise of "baby boomers" born after the end of the Greater East Asia War moving to take their place in society. The leaps of scientific advancement that saw men walk on the Moon for the first time in 1969, led by a Navy pilot from Ohio; much to the delight of the carrier's living kami, all the pilots of her on-board air group raised cups of sake in toast to Neil Armstrong's call from thousands of kilometres away: "_**That's one small step for man. One giant leap for mankind.**_"

And then came the twentieth of November in 1983...

Another earthquake struck the region, this one appearing to have the power necessary to dislodge the glaciers trapping _Yonaga_ within and allowing her to head out on a VERY long-delayed attack mission to Hawai'i. But the Fates once again judged against the crew of the Seventh Carrier; the ice didn't clear away enough and aftershocks would see even MORE glaciers slam into the mouth of the bay, making extraction from Sano-wan all but impossible. The crew's hopes were crushed that night, resulting in the breaking out of the carrier's stores of hard liquor for the first time as people got drunk and thoughts of suicide sank hard on many hearts. Fortunately, Lieutenant Moroboshi Kyōsuke was there to whip everyone back into shape, advising people that Fate clearly meant something SPECIAL for the crew of the _Yonaga_ which forced them to remain in Sano-wan. Given the intermittent times magical poachers actually found the place called "Svjetjjílische" by the cove's original residents to get pretty sex-slaves, the crew as a whole believed they had to properly repay the many things the gamájun did for them over the decades before giri and ninjō was seen as properly satisfied; only THEN would the metamorphic avians' ancient patron see the ice swept clear to let them sail the high seas once more.

Yoiko knew how much of a _**lie**_ that had been. Unlike most of her crew, Kyōsuke was a passionate Taoist who didn't care for the warped types of Bushidō that had been prevalent among soldiers and sailors of the Imperial armed forces when the march to the Second World War began. Being a properly-trained shinshoku despite his true faith, the native of Sendai became _Yonaga_'s effective chaplain, gladly administering to people's spiritual needs over the decades they effectively lived and thrived in Sano-wan. Unlike many of the carrier's command staff, Kyōsuke had BELIEVED in the call to surrender in 1945. He KNEW the voice of his very own _**godfather**_ over the radio! He KNEW deep in his heart that it would have taken a VERY extraordinary set of events to force the Heavenly Sovereign's hand in that matter. And he had SENSED the unleashing of the Moroboshi Clan's most sacred treasure — the sentient storehouse of a millennium's worth of ninjutsu knowledge addressed by all as simply the _**Saikō Jinseijutsu**_; such a being was allowed to reside within the subconscious mind of Kyōsuke's own father Moroboshi Ryūbi — during the evening of the fourteenth of August in 1945 in an aside to the Kyūjō Incident; doing such would see the being informally named "Moroboshi Negako" virtually SLAUGHTER the remaining metahuman warriors of the Black Dragon Society, thus preventing a potential CIVIL WAR to break out within a devastated nation once it had been occupied by the Americans.

Then the Kami — or perhaps the Christian God, maybe? — shone a light on things.

That was thanks to a man named Theodore Ross...

* * *

_**In the skies over Nerima in Tōkyō, that moment...**_

"Oh, man! How did THIS happen?!"

Those people who knew her would immediately tell everyone that Kasuga Ayumu — known almost exclusively as "Ōsaka" these days thanks to one Takino Tomo — was nothing more than a narcoleptic bonkura who was slow and spacey. Of course, Ayumu didn't really do anything to challenge that.

Even if she was Gifted with the power to remould UNIVERSES over eleven years ago...

Being the twenty-eighth incarnation of the Goddess Who Walks Among Men, Ayumu knew how frightening her reality-warping abilities could be to the average person. How she could turn day into night and back again by mentally shifting a planet around, unleash a virtual hurricane of poison as she had done in Vale on Remnant not so long ago, reverse disasters with just a thought, unleash cleansing echoes of her power — the _**Infinite Wave**_ — to clear out whole solar systems if need be...

Not to mention save a poor child from the planet Uru from being seen as a _**cripple**_ among her people.

As Ayumu had done to one Redet Lum of Onishuto mere days after the former's Gifting.

That had been done at the behest of the first true friend of the native of Wakayama...

...who was now proverbially STUCK in the town she had fled from years before.

To say anything of being forced back to being a BOY after spending eleven years maturing as a GIRL!

Not to mention having all memories of her/his true home wiped from her/his mind.

Scowling as her meta-sight locked in on one Tariko Katabarbe — known to everyone in Tomobiki by her/his birth name "Moroboshi Ataru" — struggling as he was being choked by a transformed Oni-Urusian deep space pilot, Ayumu resisted the urge to teleport in there, scare the heck of the natives of the fourth world of Oniboshi, then use her power to transform Tariko back to the way she should be...which would definitely see her Gifted along the way. "Darn it, Tariko-chan! I _**warned**_ you this could happen!" the native of Wakayama hissed as she raised her hand, thumb and middle fingers poised.

"_...ate one of MY cakes?! Those are the special cakes I made just for Rei-sama 'cause it'll expand one hundred times once eaten!_"

"_**URRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAGH...!**_"

"_How DARE you interrupt my date with such a moronic excuse?!_"

"_Ooops! Sorry! I didn't know the cake was for you!_"

Ayumu slumped. "Oh, man...!"

_**SNAP!**_

A loud rumbling inside the Moroboshi home made the people in there pause...

_**KK-KRUNCH!**_

_**KK-KRACK!**_

"_Mooooooo...!_"

"_Ran-chan's hurting, Okā-chan...!_"

As the clearly amnesiac Tariko panted in relief after CINDER BLOCKS had been dropped on the skull of the ushitora which was her/his "wife's" ex-fiancé Seq Rei — not to mention the frontier pilot's would-be wife Aruka Ran — the warlord's daughter from Onishuto blinked after prostrating herself in front of her childhood friend. Noting the very nice lumps on the heads of two people she was now starting to see more as annoyances than real friends, she then perked as her "darling" moved to shove the dazed Rei over the edge of the veranda, dropping him head-first onto the lawn a floor below! Once that was done, Lum herself nodded, then snared Ran by the collar of her dress, tossing her out of "Ataru's" bedroom to drop down right on her would-be husband. As Tariko winced on seeing someone s/he was attracted to hurt like that — it seemed THAT part of the soul of Ayumu's first true friend hadn't changed at all — the Oni teenager picked up the very heavy blocks of moulded concrete, then dropped each of them on the heads of her dazed countrymen below. After the last one was smashed hard on Ran's skull, Lum then snapped, "_**RAN-CHAN NO BAKA! NEXT TIME, KEEP YOUR DAMNED FOOD TO YOURSELF!**_"

She then sent a massive torrent of bio-electricity down to make both Ran and Rei do the equivalent of a funky chicken dance before they regained some semblance of conscious thought, then fled the Moroboshi property. As Lum snarled after them before moving to tend to her "husband", Ayumu breathed out in relief. "Man, this is going to be a real bummer to fix," the Infinite One muttered as she allowed her meta-sight to take in all in Tomobiki and leading to and from it.

Put simply, it was a MESS!

Someone had planted HUNDREDS of ebony mesonium crystals in the soil right at the borders of the various neighbourhoods in Nishitōkyō that made up the town of Tomobiki, creating a metaphysical _**shield**_ that kept people inside effectively isolated from the outside world. It wouldn't stop anyone from physically entering or leaving, of course, but the shield incorporated elements of various magical charms such as the Fidelius to serve as a perfect information block via ALL means — from word of mouth to newspapers to radio and television and even the Internet itself! — from flowing in and out of Tomobiki. Even more, said shield effectively JAMMED all TWENTY ley lines that intersected in the southern part of Tomobiki itself, right under a hill where a very old — and very SICK, Ayumu was quick to note — cherry tree called the Tarōzakura now stood. Because of that, all sorts of akuma and yōma and other such beings were effectively TRAPPED in Tomobiki, their presence influencing the people living there in pretty negative ways. Even more so, at that nexus of those ley lines, a being somewhat similar to what Moroboshi Negako had been before the Infinite One herself gave her a battle doll body shortly after the encounter with Lum on Uru was now starting to develop, metaphysically reaching out to influence the minds of everyone within the town to think, remember and believe in certain things.

The GOOD news in this situation was that said shield currently extended up like a funnel right to edge of outer space and merged with various metaphysical shields around the planet, thus allowing this information roadblock enforced on those living inside Tomobiki — and perhaps those who frequently visited there — to be extended to any potential alien visitors coming to Earth from afar.

It didn't take Ayumu long to realize what all this was for.

Someone had gone to a HUGE amount of trouble to make Tariko seem like a NORMAL Earth person.

And given that Lum clearly saw "Ataru" now as her HUSBAND...!

Sadly nodding, the native of Wakayama teleported herself back to her bedroom in Itabashi.

She had to think hard as to what to do about this...

* * *

_**Back on Remnant at Renaissance Industries, an hour later...**_

"Um...Master Neville...?"

A certain magical native of Holdenhurst near Bournemouth in Dorsetshire blinked, then he looked over. "What is it?" Neville Longbottom asked as he handed a newly-sprouted northern polar continent masa plant in a pot to a grateful woman while young hunters from Beacon moved to distribute lunch and supper rations prepared by Osamu Shirayuki, then he gazed on the young vulpine therianthrope child that had attracted Pyrrha Nikos' attention the previous evening in a nearby warehouse.

The young girl blushed as her bushy tail swished; she was old enough to be able to subconsciously control that appendage to better display her mood. "Um, Master Neville, Mistress Chiyo told Mom that you were some sort of villain back on Yiziba," she said before looking down. "Um...if that's so...?"

A laugh escaped the Master of Plants before he looked to one of the local staff from Renaissance Industries. "We got enough here for the time being, mate. Make sure every family gets one."

"Of course, Master Neville," the local man affirmed with a nod before he smiled at the young Faunus.

Neville waved the girl to follow her to a nearby couch so they could sit; her mother had already collected her family's new plant to put down in one of the open-air parks near their home. Doing such would serve as a massive new source of mesonium to inject directly into the very soil, thus rendering the naquadah and whatever else had been in the underlying terrain for centuries inert and effectively sanitizing the area from the death cheater who had been moving to destroy humanity on this world for the past two millennia. "In my battle line, that's been normally true," he explained. "But it's with good reason, though." he added as he held up a finger to emphasize his point, winking at her.

"Why's that?"

He considered that before smiling. "Well, on Yiziba, there are many types of metahumans there. You can break them down into several broad categories. I'm a psychic-type since I can manipulate plants with the power of my mind. My magic also marks me as a psychic-type."

"What other types are there, Master Neville?"

"Well, you have Chiyo and Isaac. Both of them are ultra-intelligent, thus they can invent a lot of things, developing science in a way that pushed our planet's technological levels to make us the high-water mark of the whole GALAXY!" As she gasped on hearing that — the androids and gynoids working at RI had started given their co-workers and relatives some basic lessons on what lay beyond the Oum system — he added, "In fact, three of them — two being part of the current generation — helped save all of Yiziba from the mess the Dawn of Power left behind. But..." He shrugged. "They really didn't go far enough in the eyes of MY first-self. He wanted Yiziba to return fully to Nature's overall control."

She considered that before humming. "No more cities, you mean."

He nodded. "Yeah. And it could have been done, believe it or not. The Circle of Thought — that's the three people I just mentioned now — could easily build great space stations for our first-selves to live in while Yiziba healed. They didn't. What was worse, many who were part of another type of metahuman started wrecking things the Circle's inventions fixed up. They're what we call 'FISS-types'."

"'FISS-types'?"

That was Fox Alistair, who with the members of Team CFVY had been helping with plant distribution to the locals. As they came over to listen to the British wizard's tale, Neville nodded. "The term is an acronym, Mister Alistair. 'F-I-S-S'," he spelled out for the natives' benefit. "It means 'Flight, Invulnerability, Super-Strength and Super-Speed'. Chiyo's friend Takino Tomo is a FISS-type."

"The 'silly person' who gave Lady Ayumu that horrible nickname, you mean," Velvet Scarlatina noted.

"Same bloody idiot," he said with a snort as he relaxed in the sofa. "People similar to the Fukushima sisters, actually." As the young girl boggled — the locals had been given a demonstration of the reborn destroyers' powers late last night when stories began being passed about the homeworld of the One Above the Gods — he added, "Almost one-fourth of Yizibajohei are believed to be FISS-types at any one time. Now, if they can control themselves, it's no issue. But you get wildcats like Takino — who's one of the top FISS-types on the planet, Merlin save us! — who are too comfortable tearing many SQUARE KILOMETRES of countryside apart just to beat down an opponent. And my first-self said, 'No'!"

"He vowed to fight it, you mean," Coco Adel mused.

Neville nodded as his sharp eye picked up a faint silvery-reddish glow emanating from the exposed skin of the huntsman team leader from Vale city. Inwardly smiling — it was seen among most Terran-born Yizibajohei as "spoiling the reveal scene" when they saw the obvious first signs of a Gifting going down — he nodded. "Right. Since most FISS-types are bloody 'save everyone's arses possible' Gryffindor-types, my first-self got labelled as a 'heel', which is the rough equivalent of a villain here."

"But your first-self had reasons to do that!" the young girl protested, which made the older teens look her way. "You're like Blake's father or Monica's aunt...!"

"True. But you got to remember that people — even people from the same society or cultural group — often have MANY different ways of looking at things," Neville advised. "Look at Miss Adel's classmates. We have a Faunus like you in Miss Scarlatina as part of her actual team. But then look at Mister Winchester and his friends. They don't like Faunus at all. All of you are from this very city." He then sighed. "In a way, you're pretty lucky. It's way worse where I come from."

"What does that mean, Neville?" Fox asked.

"There are humanoid and near-humanoid magical species living on Earth. The effective leaders of MANY magical societies back home don't care for them, think them as 'animals'," the Terran-turned-Yizibajohei chlorokinetic affirmed, his voice dripping with scorn. "Like..."

_**Tene lomher'buo, Coco Adel...!**_

A shocked cry escaped the tall, fashionable woman as she bolted to her feet. At Isaac Thomas' suggestion, all those who had been pre-Gifted by the Great Chef of the West earlier in the morning were made to change into the silver crystalline jumpsuits that traditionally marked those on Yiziba as being ready to "dance with the Great Crystal of Life"; to not offend the local's sensibilities, the more traditional sleeved patterns of jumpsuit had been issued to those who requested it, including even a fashion-hound like Coco. As her whole body began to glow as bright as Oum at high noon, people cried out as they shielded their eyes, wanting to see this happen before things became too harsh to...!

_**Nesu...BUOLEM!**_

"_**YES!**_" the now-Gifted Valean howled with delight as her uniform turned into a more modern form-fitting jumpsuit in the umber brown shade that was the main colour of her normal huntsman's clothing. With chocolate-brown pouch-lined belt and matching buccaneer boots along with straps of brown leather-like material on her upper and lower arms and upper legs her uniform came complete with a hollow square insignia filled with sixteen four-point stars in perfect formation.

Recognizing the insignia of the Human Legion, _**Buolem**_ ("_**Phalanx**_"), Neville could only nod before he gazed at his young questioner. "If you want to know, Miss, Miss Adel just became a FISS-type."

"Well, ain't I lucky then, Neville-kun...!"

The wizard-turned-chlorokinetic gasped. "Tomo...?!"

A silver gloved hand landed on Coco's shoulder...

...then in a flash of light, she disappeared! "_**COCO!**_" Velvet screamed in horror...

_**To Be Continued...!**_

* * *

**WRITER'S NOTES**

The translation of _Issho no Tabeyō_, which was **Osamu Shirayuki**'s theme song for the second _Sister Princess_ anime series, _Sister Princes Re Pure_; the song itself was performed in the omake part of the eleventh episode, "The Box of Memories":

_Kyō ha oshaberi ne kitto nanika  
__Ikoto ga atta desho kikasete.  
__Isogashikute mo jikan awasete tabeyō...!_

(Today, you are talkative. Maybe  
There was something good. Tell me about it.  
Even if we're busy, let's eat meals together...!)

_Futari kakomu table ha ichinichi no owari no happy.  
__Tumaranakatta koto baka na hanashi mo futari de share shiyō...!_

(At the end of the day, we're happy sitting around the table.  
Let's share some talk and gossip...!)

For those who don't know, Shirayuki always speaks of herself in third-person as **Hime** ("Princess"). This stems from the literal translation of her name ("snow white") as well as serves as one of many in-jokes that dotted _Sister Princess_ as a whole.

Translation list: **Dame desu no** — Don't/Stop (in Shirayuki-speak); **Nadosu** — Tuna; **Memr'bem** — Carrot; **First draft** — Yizibajohei euphemism for an initial plan; **Titemyu** — Literally "machine woman", this is the Yizibajohei term for a gynoid; **Storyline** — Yizibajohei term for a month; **Miniseries** — Yizibajohei term for a decade; **Tuor'besam** — Vanilla; **Rati** — Salmon; **Yoku** — Warthog; **Ekedu** — Strawberry; **Padu** — Lettuce; **Tamsam** — Cabbage; **Dutonae** — Corn; **Tyuotutosete** — Chocolate; **Yuoguo** — Cherry; **Rimyuo** — Goat; **R'buonyato** — Wheat; **Hoguor'bo** — Wine; **Shinshoku** — Literally "employee of the Kami", one of the official titles of a Shintō shrine priest; **Masa** — Oak; **Battle line** — Yizibajohei term for the people who share the same Gift over the generations.

_Yakuza_ character notes: **Amon Noa** first appeared in _Yakuza 5_. Her kinsman **Amon Shin** first appeared in the spin-off game _Judge Eyes: Shinigami no Yuigon_.

The **Dark Lady of the Orient** first appeared in Fred's second _Wizards and Avalonians_ side stories to _Phoenix From the Ashes_.

The scene with **Tariko Katabarbe** (AKA **Moroboshi Ataru**), **Redet Lum**, **Aruka Ran** and **Seq Rei** is a carry-on from the _Urusei Yatsura_ manga story "My Darling's Peril" (manga chapter #162).


End file.
